Lesson of the Fox
by Lang Noi
Summary: NarutoInuyasha crossover, slight AU. Twelve years ago, Shippou and his family made a horrible mistake that cost them a son. Now, with a chance to change the outcome of the Kyuubi's attack, what new challenges will come? DROPPED.
1. What Came Before and After

Lesson of the Fox

A/N: First _Naruto_ story. Me no own, you no sue. It's a bit annoying that I need to translate all of this, but it's for the best. Attacks are not listed within the vocabulary section.

**Summary**:

What would have happened if someone had stopped the Kyuubi no Youko from attacking Konohagakure no Sato?

**Vocabulary (Japanese words and _Naruto_ universe stuff)**:

Akatsuki -a criminal organization made up of extremely powerful nukenin (missing-nin). The syndicate is bent on possessing all nine bijuu for God knows what purpose. Notable members are Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame, Akasuna no Sasori, Deidara, and Zetsu. Most members are suspected to be jinchuuriki.

ANBU - 'Black Ops' or 'Dark Side'. ANBU is an assassination organization, who only obeys the Kage of their Hidden Village. ANBU members are of chuunin or jounin level, and it is likely that they have to take another exam to get in. Those who enter ANBU often either leave within a few years, go mad, die, or all three. Hatake Kakashi was made famous by his success in the organization, something that he would probably rather forget. Note: ANBU has a spin-off called _Ne_ or 'Root' who focus on disrupting Konoha's reigning Fifth Hokage, a woman named Tsunade.

Bijuu - Tailed beast/demon. The power is based on the number of tails. Ichibi is the weakest, with one tail, while the Kyuubi is the strongest, with nine tails.

Chuunin - 'Middle ninja'. Chuunin are the middle-ranked shinobi. Chuunin is probably one of the most common ninja ranks, aside from Academy student. Most genin take their chuunin exam within a year or so of becoming genin. Chuunin can become teachers and ANBU members, but the former isn't very common. Naruto's first opponent, Mizuki, was a chuunin while Naruto hadn't even been considered a genin yet. Kakashi (again) broke a record by advancing to chuunin while he was only just out of the academy – at age _six_. Chuunin can be sent on low B through low A-ranked missions.

Genin - 'Low ninja'. This is the first rank that a ninja gains after graduating from the academy, via the genin preliminary exam. In the _Naruto_ universe, Uzumaki Naruto is the only one to fail this exam, nearly being held back a grade. Genin are usually sent on missions between D and C-rank, though Naruto's first out-of-town mission changed quickly from C to A-ranked.

Hitai-ate - Forehead protector/headband, usually marked with the symbol of the village of origin. It is earned after passing the genin preliminary exam, and is the symbol of an adult and a ninja. If one fails the second genin exam (it is different for every jounin sensei), they are stripped of their hitai-ate and sent back to the Ninja Academy.

Jinchuuriki - the (unwilling) person in which a bijuu was sealed shortly after birth.

Jounin - 'High ninja'. After passing a jounin exam, of which no details are currently known, a chuunin rank ninja can become a jounin. Jounin are often sent on A-rank and S-rank missions. Only jounin can be responsible for their own team of genin, though chuunin can teach classes at the Academy. Hatake Kakashi (also known as Copy Nin Kakashi) was at this rank by age thirteen, while Nara Shikamaru's mother, thirty-six, is still a chuunin.

Kage - 'Shadow'. The strongest and cleverest ninja in a Hidden Village. There is only one Kage per great country; Lighting Country being Raikage ('Lightning Shadow'), Fire Country is Hokage ('Fire Shadow'), Earth being Tsuchikage ('Earth Shadow'), Mizukage ('Water Shadow') of Water Country, and Kazekage ('Wind Shadow') for Wind Country. Each Hokage resides in a specific Hidden Village – Hokage goes to Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf), Kazekage to Sunagakure (Hidden Sand), Mizukage to the Kirigakure (Hidden Mist), Raikage to Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud), and Tsuchikage to Iwagakure (Hidden Rock). Also, depending upon how many Kage have come before them, Kage are given an extra title; Shodai (or Shodaime) means 'First', Nidaime means 'Second', Sandaime means 'Third', Yondaime means 'Fourth', Godaime means 'Fifth', and apparently Rokudaime is 'Sixth'.

Kitsune - Fox spirit. Kitsune were notorious tricksters in Japan, but could be benevolent or malevolent. To call the Kyuubi a kitsune would show knowledge of the beast's ancestry (at least in this story). Shippou, despite being called a kitsune by many, is actually a youko.

Konohagakure no Sato - Konoha/Hidden Leaf Village/Village Hidden in the Leaves

Kunai - the daggerlike knives used in _Naruto_

Kyuubi no Youko - Nine-tailed demon fox, attacked the Hidden Leaf Village (Konoha) twelve years before current timeline, was sealed inside Uzumaki Naruto by the Yondaime Hokage. The seal required two sacrifices – one was the person activating the seal (Yondaime) and the other a newborn baby to seal the bijuu into.

Nukenin - Missing-ninja/Missing-nin. They are traitors to their village of origin and are usually hunted by a team of Oinin. An entire criminal organization, the Akatsuki, is made up of nukenin.

Oinin - Hunter/Tracker ninja. They are responsible for tracking down, killing, and erasing traces of all missing-nins that betray their village of origin. Oinin are taught how to kill opponents with the least amount of effort and the most speed.

Senbon - Acupuncture needle. They're about six to eight inches long, and are only fatal if they hit a vital organ. Getting speared through the neck by one can give someone a week-long coma.

Shinobi - Japanese term for 'ninja'.

Shuriken - 'Ninja stars'

Yondaime Hokage - "Fourth Fire Shadow", fourth ninja leader of Fire Country. The Yondaime Hokage was famous for defending Konoha from a giant demon fox by sealing it inside a baby, which required his own life to do. Personally, I think that the Yondaime is named Kazama Arashi, and is Naruto's father.

Youki - Demonic Energy/Aura/Power…

Youkai - demon/ghost/apparition/ogre/God knows what else…

Youko - Demon Fox. Shippou is a youko, rather than a much weaker kitsune.

* * *

Chapter One: What Came Before and After

_As the massive fox closed in on the sleeping village of Konohagakure no Sato, Shippou closed his eyes and waited. The village was doomed. His son, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, had proved as much. None of the shinobi had managed to even slow the beast. It was over._

_But, as it so happened, all hope was not lost. The village's leader, the Yondaime Hokage, sealed Shippou's son inside his newborn child, consequently damning the both of them to a life filled with misery. And then the Yondaime, Kazama Arashi, fell from his toad summons's back, dead._

_But hey, at least the village was safe._

Shippou's lip curled into a snarl at the memory. Yes, he'd been hopelessly foolish then. How could Shippou have not known of the Yondaime's power? More so, how could he have just sat back and watched as his own son was devoured by a demon-sealing technique?

So now, Shippou the Great Fox of Ten Tails, was stuck sitting in a Konoha apartment, staring at the cracked white ceiling. His human form was something he'd been using for the past twelve years – that of a red-haired, dark green-eyed man with no definable talent.

Oh, how he hated it.

Shippou, if given the choice, would have chosen to change the past in a heartbeat. Then Uzumaki Naruto could have grown up with a father, then Shippou wouldn't be short a son, and then Konohagakure wouldn't have lost so many of its finest ninjas and the civilians' family members.

It was at that moment that a tiny light was noticed. It was a green light, hovering at the windowsill closest to the Forest of Death. As Shippou stared at it, for lack of anything better to do, it eventually 'poofed' into existence.

The ball of light was apparently a six-inch-tall, black-haired, green-eyed, dragon-winged fairy. Right, that was the Great Fairy of something-or-other. Shippou had been introduced to the black-and-green ball of energy once before, but he had only had one tail then, which made it around nine hundred years ago.

"Tee-hee-hee!" the sprite chuckled in way of a greeting. "In case you forgotten (which you probably have, you stupid fox), I am the Great Fairy Rini, Guardian of Time!" If there was one thing Shippou hadn't forgotten about the said Great Fairy, it was that her enthusiasm was contagious.

"How are you, Rini?" Shippou asked, getting up from the floor. The sprite laughed again.

"Oh, it's not me you should be worrying about!" she piped. "I'm as fine as I've ever been. But you, now you are a different story, my sly, prankster friend. What's wrong?"

Shippou sighed and held a hand over his eyes. "Twelve years ago, I made the stupidest decision of my life, and now my son and _his_ son are paying for it. _He_ paid for it the moment he cursed the other two, but now I'm stuck here keeping track of them! And, considering his son's incompetence and mine's pride, I'm going to be stuck in this role until we all die."

"Hm…" went the fairy, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Well, since I'm the almighty Great Fairy Guardian of Time, I'll help you out!"

Shippou put on his best fox grin. "I thought you'd say that."

The two shared a mutual laugh as Shippou prepared for his journey into the past.

* * *

A few days later, just before the several chuunin and a genin with extraordinary abilities (namely Naruto) went after Uchiha Sasuke (Sasuke Retrieval story arc), Shippou and Rini were prepared to make the time jump. 

It was simple enough. Rini would only need to open a temporary gate that would last a few minutes at best, reactivating it after the necessary changes to the timestream had occurred. It would tax her small body greatly to send such a powerful creature to the past, but Shippou and Rini both knew it was worth the trouble.

After all, how many people would benefit if the fox had never attacked? Too many to count, it seemed. Besides, Shippou wanted his numbskull of a son to live long enough for grandkits, dammit!

So, with a grim look at the ten-tailed fox, the fairy made a complicated gesture with her small hands, before slashing at the air as if using a sword. A four-inch portal opened in midair, shimmering like a disturbed pond's surface. The image in the circle wavered more, before finally stilling in the image of a full moon. Below the moon was a forest, and towering above the trees was a fox. The fox was deep vermillion with long ears like a rabbit's and nine thrashing tails. It was an amazing image, save for the fact that it was only the size of Shippo's clenched fist.

"The Kyuubi," Rini breathed. She turned her eyes, shining like pale emeralds, on the youko. Shippou nodded back at her. "Right."

She extended her hands as far apart as they would go, before bringing them together with a loud '_SMACK'_. As she spread her arms again to their previous position, the portal widened with every millimeter. Even as her arms stopped moving, the portal continued to grow.

When it was large enough to encroach upon Rini's personal space, she took to the air and continued to widen the rip in time until it was large enough for Shippou's human form to step through unhindered.

The portal stopped growing when it reached six feet in diameter. Tired but pleased with her work, the fairy gestured the fox through. Shippou took a deep breath before plunging into the unknown.

He felt the sort of sensation one gets when submerged – one of weightlessness and unexplained pressure. When he opened his catlike green eyes again, he was lying on the ground, somewhere outside Konoha.

Giddy with pleasure (since his plan had seemed to work), Shippou quickly stood up and surveyed his surroundings.

He was in a dense wood bordering a large plain. The forest smelled of humans and animals alike, as well as the night and rain. Yes, this was Konoha's forest all right. Vaguely, Shippou also noted that while the full moon was up, it was almost too dark for his youkai eyes to see properly. Frowning thoughtfully, the fox looked at the nearby trees and just _knew_ there were Leaf shinobi hiding within a few yards of him.

But that wasn't of importance. Had the Kyuubi attacked yet? No, this area wasn't barren yet. In both of the future times Shippou was connected to, the Konoha's surrounding forest had been nearly decimated and had retained its burned quality for over ten years.

So, bored, Shippo decided to sit there under the nearest tree and wait for his son to show himself. For good measure, he extended his senses through meditation to cover a near-mile, which should give him a good forewarning, he thought.

So the fox waited.

And waited. He was playing tic-tac-toe inside his own mind now…

And waited until his feet fell asleep. _What was I supposed to get Souten for dinner again_? Shippou asked himself. _Oh, right…chicken…_

When he was just getting irritated enough with the lack of activity to begin pulling pranks on the nearby ninjas, he heard something. Granted, it sounded like a grasshopper's chirp compared to the cacophony of other background noises (like the third shinobi to the right, who was throwing shuriken at a tree just to keep himself occupied). Nonetheless, it was quickly growing louder.

In fact, it was starting to sound a bit like…fox noises. Shippou shot to his feet, all traces of the laid-back fox-boy having receded to the depths of his mind. As soon as the scent of a fire fox hit his nose, he stiffened.

"Oh man…" the fox muttered, running a hand through his red hair agitatedly. "That idiot's coming to mow down Konoha, and for what? A frigging birthday celebration!" Whether the Leaf shinobi actually managed to comprehend the true message behind that was a mystery to him, but word of any threat to Konoha would set them on edge. It hadn't been long after the Stone-Leaf war, after all.

Two out of the eight ninja in Shippou's neck of the woods took off running into the village. He thought the recognized a few of the ninjas now – Hatake Kakashi was the short one, Ebisu over there, Gekkou Hayate was the one that kept doubling over coughing, and finally Maito Gai was standing by Kakashi, grinning like a cheesy superhero. He couldn't tell who the rest were. But the ones he knew weren't supposed to die this early either.

Ironic, then, that what was about to happen could kill them all.

And happen it did. With a terrifying shriek, the Kyuubi no Youko's massive head appeared to eclipse the moon. With a single leap, Shippou's seemingly insane son cleared the last of the trees before the clearing.

Of course, this would be the clearing that Shippou and the six remaining Leaf Nin were.

The Kyuubi was huge, almost a hundred yards high. His nine long tails fanned out behind him like some sort of maddened peacock, each and every one a deep, dark orange. The Kyuubi's lanky limbs seemed to be held together awkwardly as if by bandages, but they had more than enough muscle to be intimidating. His red eyes glowered with an eternal, burning hatred for all lives besides his own.

Shippou couldn't even recognize his son anymore.

Shippou cursed his luck. With humans around, there was no way he could afford to transform and possibly alter the future beyond all repair. So, the fox watched with horrified eyes as Hayate tried to use his Mikazuki no Mai (Dance of the Crescent Moon) attack to stall the incoming Kyuubi for the Hokage's arrival.

Predictably, the Kyuubi was not fooled by the three sword-wielding Kage Bunshin, and aimed his Fox Fire attack at the real Hayate. Hayate used a Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Switch Technique) to switch places with a nearby fallen log. The log was quickly set aflame.

His hands flashing through about forty consecutive seals, Kakashi activated Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique). As the deadly surge of water cascaded towards his son, Shippou already knew that the Jutsu wasn't going to work. For a start, water techniques were considerably weaker, if not impossible to use, without a water source. Besides, while the Kyuubi may have been a fire fox, he had trained for centuries against water attacks. Hatake Kakashi may have been a genius, but no one was a prodigy compared to an ancient beast like the Kyuubi.

The Kyuubi's rightmost tail flew out of nowhere and knocked the two attacking Leaf Nin to the ground. They skidded almost fifty feet away before lying still.

It wasn't for long. Kakashi slowly moved to his feet – how could a thirteen-year-old do that, anyway? Well, Shippou surmised grimly, it wasn't as if the boy would be able to fight. Getting smashed by a kitsune's tail, especially this one, was not going to leave anyone without at least a dozen broken bones.

The boy staggered and fell to his knees. Seemingly aware of his comrade Gai's approach, he looked up before yelling at the other jounin to go get the Hokage. Gai, for once, did as his Eternal Rival desired and teleported away.

Kakashi glared up at the fox, the slits in his ANBU wolf mask showing more than enough of his hatred. With a malicious laugh, the fox bore down on the young Nin.

That was it. That was the last straw.

Shippou released his long-lasting illusion, and in a poof of smoke became the beast that even the legendary bijuu feared.

He was now covered head to tails in thick golden fur. He was larger than the Kyuubi, but that may have been due to his thicker limbs and more substantial mass. All ten tails were tipped with silver, as were his paws and snout. The tails were all displayed to his advantage, every one in full view to give the junior fox a taste of the concept of outranking. His head was less like a mousey fox and more like a wolf, complete with a stern look in his green eyes. Shippo's ears were also more proportionate to a normal fox's, looking like small yellow triangles sitting on top of his head. He crouched protectively in front of Kakashi, his hackles raised in warning, fangs bared.

With a resounding 'BOOM', a third party joined the scene. It was a giant dark red-brown toad, about as huge as the foxes, with intricate black markings all over it. It wore a black gi as any samurai or yakuza would…the toad was altogether too human to be an ordinary spirit toad. It had to be a summon.

Then Shippou noticed the figure perched on the toad (The toad was the toad boss, he realized, and his name was Gamabunta). He was about six feet tall or so, and was a blonde, blue-eyed man wearing a coat with flames lining the bottom.

Actually, now Shippou knew where Naruto had gotten his looks. The rambunctious genin was the splitting image of the Yondaime Hokage, Kazama Arashi.

And right now, Arashi was wearing a look Shippou had seen on Naruto's face many a time. Confusion.

Kyuubi hesitated. With two powerful opponents staring him down, one of which was his own father and a ten-tailed fox while the other was the Yondaime Hokage, he chose the seemingly weaker of the two.

As the Kyuubi no Youko went for the Yondaime, Shippou intervened with his Fox Fire attack. As his son growled an enraged inquiry, the elder youko launched himself at his junior and sank his fangs deep into the other fox's shoulder tissue.

The nine-tailed fox howled in surprised pain and threw his senior off after a moment of struggle. Shippou's fangs dripped red blood, as did the Kyuubi's flank.

"**That**," Shippou growled in his deep, guttural voice, "**was for being the most impossible, suicidal fool I have ever had the misfortune to meet**." As he spoke, Shippou's eyes began to glow a reprimanding red, cold as ice rather than fiery.

The Kyuubi said nothing, opting instead for just glaring.

"**You have just gained a ninth tail, and then you go rampaging into the nearest village, and for what**?" Shippou snapped. "**If I had allowed you to continue, you would have only been sealed inside a human and thus negate the reason for celebration in the first place**!"

The Kyuubi again had no answer. "**Get out of my sight! You disgrace our lineage with your thoughtlessness**!" Shippou boomed, as the infamous Kyuubi cowered. The nine-tailed fox bolted as the ten-tailed one pounded the ground with a paw. Soon there was only one fox in sight, and suddenly there were none.

Shippou had transformed back into his human form, which made him a little less than six feet tall. He waved cheerfully at Arashi as the said Hokage teleported off of Gamabunta's head and dismissed the massive summon in a poof of gray smoke.

The sun was rising, the former youko noted absently. But time was no longer of the essence. The Yondaime wasn't dead; the Kyuubi wasn't sealed, at maximum only one person could have possibly died in the attack, and…oh shoot. Shippou had forgotten one thing. And, having fulfilled so many other secret promises, this one seemed particularly important.

Kazama Arashi appeared about five feet away from him, watching Shippou with that same confused look he'd worn earlier. This time, though, Konoha's Yellow Flash was trying to gauge if Shippou was still a deadly opponent.

Shippou grinned his best fox grin, "Don't worry. I didn't send him scurrying just to attack Konoha myself."

Arashi raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Damn ninjas and their silence, Shippou cursed inside his head. Having been around loud, mischievous, temperamental, or just plain cold people who's only word seemed to be insults all his life, Shippou was still unused to hidden villages and their infuriating secrecy. But then, Aoshi hadn't been much different (_Naruto_ takes place probably in the 1950s and beyond, so Shippou's making a reference to the _Rurouni Kenshin_ ninja Shinomori Aoshi – or more specifically, the man's memory).

With an impatient sigh, Shippou pulled a seed out of sleeve. Now, Shippou wasn't considered the strongest and wiliest youko in a millennium simply because of illusions, pranks, and his demonic might. He _did_ actually have abilities that required skill. So, he placed the seed in the palm of his right hand.

Then he concentrated on the oval-shaped seed, and on what it should look like when mature. He pictured a myriad of thin, small-leaved vines with large violet flowers. From the flowers dripped a special liquid that defied gravity. And the liquid sought more of itself, clumping together so that it would eventually become the raw material for a crystal ball.

The seed immediately did as he bid, bursting into bloom in a matter of seconds. The watery substance formed a sphere and hardened just as quickly.

Now the sphere was floating in the air like a massive, unblinking eye. So, to fill it and thus remind the Hokage about a _very_ important issue, Shippou thought about the infant Naruto and tried to find him in this timeline.

There he was, crying like hell, with that crazy blonde tuft of hair, in a midwife's arms. There were more subtle whisker marks this time, but his mouth still held those slightly-longer-than-usual canines. For a moment, Shippou wondered why, but dismissed the thought.

As Shippou had closed his eyes to focus, he didn't see the look of horror that crossed the Hokage's face as he was forcibly reminded of his family. In fact, he instantly teleported away with a flash. In that instant, Shippou recognized the technique as Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique). It was so close to actual teleportation that the infamous Sharingan wouldn't have been able to detect the movement.

Thus the Yondaime Hokage had shown Shippou why he was called the 'Yellow Flash of Konoha'. And Shippou believed he deserved that title, too. Not even the fox's exceptional eyes had caught it. With a smile to himself, Shippou assumed the form of a redheaded ten-year-old and ran into town.

* * *

Predictably as the sun rises, practically no one in Konoha besides the Leaf shinobi knew that they had just barely avoided disaster. It figured. Civilians and villagers, Shippou had long decided, were barely competent fools who needed fighters to hold their hands in _everything_. Ugh, how the fox hated such naive creatures. 

Nonetheless, the youko ran into town, green eyes scanning the darkness for any sign of Kazama Arashi or even chuunin-level ninja. Not a soul in sight.

Well, besides the brat in the apartment above him who wouldn't stop screaming out the window.

Dammit, where were they when those idiots had barely avoided death by demon fox? Surely they wouldn't have gone home to relax as if nothing had ever happened.

Shippou skidded to a stop as realization hit him with the force of the blunt side of Inuyasha's Tetsusaiga. Where would a Kage go if he needed to discuss the future of his village or other such important things? Hokage Tower, duh.

Sometimes, Shippou swore he was still alive only because his opponents severely underestimated him. _Inuyasha must be rubbing off on me_, Shippou grumbled.

So, with the precision of a jounin, Shippou stuck a foot to the nearest wall and scaled the building like a vampire. Granted, Shippou had known this move for years, ever since he had come to Hidden Leaf during the Shodaime's reign. He'd practically killed his sensei during the genin exams, mowed down all opposition during the chuunin exam, and breezed past the jounin exam. And then Shippou had made himself scarce, only to return now, nearly a hundred years later.

Life really sucked, Shippou reflected as he started hopping roofs, making his way with all speed towards the Tower. He didn't realize that he'd accidentally dropped the illusion until two ANBU guards jumped out of the shadows at him, clearing anticipating a threat.

Shippou dodged what he didn't feel like healing later and blocked the rest of the blows. Really, these guys couldn't be above chuunin level at best, and they were taking on a demon that could disembowel them in seconds? That, and in terms of ninjustu, Shippou ranked them. It was nice to know he could kick their rears on any playing field.

When Shippou grinned at them, the attacks came faster.

Ah, the ignorance of youth. Youkai learned early on that if you attacked an opponent who looked human but smelled otherwise, you were either asking for an easy meal or a messy death. After all, only the strongest of demons or the weakest could take on human form. It was a stab in the dark to find out which one you were dealing with.

Growing weary of their persistence, Shippou signaled surrender. The two Leaf shinobi stopped for a moment, but their weapons were still close at hand. So the fox dug into his pocket for the Leaf hitai-ate he had gotten so many years ago.

The strap was a bit more worn that he would have liked, but Shippou showed it to the Tiger and Cat-masked ANBU. They clearly didn't trust him, but a Leaf hitai-ate was very good evidence that Shippou had lived in the village before.

Well, Shippou thought to himself, he had come from this village, in a sort of strange way. More specifically, he'd gotten his hitai-ate here, which meant that he'd graduated from the ninja academy in order to get it. So yeah, now he was confusing himself.

Without further ado, the fox tied the band to his upper arm, since he honestly didn't care about the concept of 'forehead protectors' when he could heal from nearly any non-youkai attack. The ANBU backed off, acknowledging Shippou as an ally.

And so the fox continued on his way like a bloodhound while tracking, determined to reach the Hokage Tower before the main crowd. Of course, he liked to do his traveling the shinobi way, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Also, the building he was on right then was about fifty feet away from the clearing of the Hokage Tower. He really didn't need nor want to meet any more shinobi, save Arashi.

This, of course, is why fate decided to deal him a bad hand.

Every single important shinobi, elder, and clan head he could think of was already there. In fact, a lot of them were still wearing sleeping robes or hair curlers. With the exception of Hyuuga Hiashi and Uchiha Fugaku, of course. The men were such stone-faced pricks.

And who would be standing right at the front of this congregation of ninjas? Kazama Arashi, just the incredibly short-sighted (in Shippou's opinion, anyway) blonde Hokage that Shippou needed to vent on. Yes, this was why Shippou made a point of cursing fate at every opportunity. Absently, Shippou noted that the Hokage was holding a blanket-wrapped bundle. A tuft of blond hair stuck out from one end.

It was at that moment that a certain fairy of time decided to make her appearance. "Tee-hee-hee!" Rini snickered, flashing the kitsune a huge grin. The little black-and-green dragon wings that normally kept her aloft weren't even moving as she floated in midair.

Shippou raised one red eyebrow. He hadn't asked that Rini come to pick him up. The fairy he knew and her bubbly personality abruptly went down the drain, only to be replaced by something that reminded him a bit of a stern Kagome.

"So, fox, you've prevented your son's attack." It wasn't a question. Rini scowled. "Unfortunately, there are side effects to pulling one over on fate like that."

Shippou watched the fairy warily, but also perfectly conscious of the fact that none of his fox tricks could get him out of this. So Shippou nodded for her to continue.

A childish pout graced the fairy's face. "And you know what? If we've got to pay up for messing with the past, which we do, one of us has to cancel out their past self and live in _this_ era in their place. So, when you got here, the Shippou that was originally running around Fire Country from this point forward was written out of existence, in order to avoid a paradox." At this, Rini's impish face darkened still further. "There's something else, too. We needed to offer some of our power to stay out of trouble with the higher-ups. So, I had you offer your ability to use some of your crazy powers, or ninjustu as they are called here. So now you can't use that stone statue thing or weeping mushrooms until you find a fox who can re-teach you those skills."

"Is that all?" Shippou asked. If that was all the time-travel skill needed, he'd sacrifice his tricks hundreds of times over just to make sure the future was a bit smoother.

"Well…no. Now that the deal with the God of Time has been finalized, you can't ever travel through time again." Oh…that kind of sucked. But still, this past that was still young, the future that hadn't been born…they were worth every once of sacrifice. Shippou was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't see a kunai (or the six or so behind it) flying at him until one of his plants instantly protected him.

The wall of thick vines shot out from the seeds in his sleeves, blocking the incoming projectiles with a solid-sounding '_thunk'_. Reinforced as they were by his youki, they were not carved into mulch like his opponents had probably hoped.

Frowning slightly, Shippou extended his senses out, trying to find the offensive ninja. There were no more attacks. Most likely, the enemy thought he was dead.

The occurrence was a bit odd. He didn't honestly expect Leaf shinobi to be after his hide, but it was certainly possible, especially if any ninja of the Hyuuga or Uchiha clans had spotted him. Not finding any reason to continue his search, he turned back to the announcement below. The Hokage looked about ready to give a speech.

"Rini, are you paying attention?" But the fairy was already gone. Well, that figured. She probably had other responsibilities somewhere.

Suddenly, Shippou sensed more hostile presences, mostly by the way they didn't try to mask their killing intent, and how their smell was saturated with anger and hate. Tense and ready for battle, Shippou was mildly surprised when the presences didn't come within a few dozen yards of him. They zoomed right past.

Demons are famous mostly for their strength, but there is something that the Academy teachers don't ever seem to cover – some demons were notorious for knowing what the opponent was doing ahead of time and thus counteracting the attack before it happens. Shippou was one of the latter cases. He sensed the hidden presences' blood lust be brought to a peak as they passed within fifty feet of the Yondaime.

Shippou took a second to curse before reaching into his leather pouch and yanking out five seeds. He hurled them in the enemy's paths at blinding speed, and then pumped the dormant pods full of youki. Almost instantly, five assassin vine plants popped into existence, each trapping a different attacking ninja.

Knowing quite well that assassin vines were a type of plant to strangle first, ask questions later, Shippou forced his will onto the plants. _Stay. Hold. Do not kill._

As soon as the enemy ninjas were tight enough that they couldn't get loose without a Kawarimi no Jutsu, the vines stilled. Now everyone present could see the plants' hairy brown stalks and hand-shaped green leaves. Underneath every few leaves was a set of red berries.

Shippou bounded off the roof at this point, landing on the ground several yards from Arashi. Shippou sighed, shaking his head at the stunned blonde. "You know, that's the second time I've saved your life in an hour. You owe me two times over."

"Doton: Retsudotensho (Earth Style: Split Earth Turn Around Palm)!" was all Shippou heard before one of the Iwagakure ninja crushed his captor, a hapless assassin vine. As he saw the nin rush towards the Hokage, whose arms were occupied with what could only be Naruto, Shippou flicked a second seed at the man. He put even more youki into that one, easily summoning the Death Tree. Within milliseconds, the Venus Flytrap-like plant had devoured the Stone nin, weapons and all.

Before the tree had recovered from the attack it had just launched, Shippou pulled every ounce of youki back into him, thus withering the predatory plant into nothing but grayish-brown rot.

"Three, and counting." Shippou murmured to a stunned Hokage.

* * *

A/N: Shippou may seem a bit OOC, but he is a lot older than where _Inuyasha_ left off. He's been through some very character-building experiences, so a bit of maturity is expected. 

Pairings (if I can figure out how to do Romance in time) -

NaruHina

SasuSaku

Most of the other obvious ralationships are between married couples. Shippou and Souten are married. Inuyasha and Kagome are married, as are Sesshoumaru and Rin. Three couples, six OCs to be kids. Okay? Okay.


	2. The New Beginning

Chapter Two: The New Beginning

_Nine years have passed since the Kyuubi's thwarted attack. Young Uzumaki Naruto is growing up rather well, even with the fact that his mother had died in childbirth. Shortly after birth, Shippou gave the boy a blessing to grow strong and wise, and even included some of the Kyuubi's and his chakra in the deal. So, now the Kyuubi couldn't grow a tenth tail for another three hundred years. When he grew up, Shippou predicted, he could very well surpass all the Hokage who came before him. His soul was destined for greatness, the Sandaime said brightly. Shippou and Arashi agreed._

_Shippou decided to stay in Konoha. He promised the Hokages (Sandaime _and_ Yondaime) to help defend the village but made a deal – he said that he'd like to be a member of the jounin rank, though not completely under the power of the Hokage. Shippou quickly rose in the ranks in the eyes of the Konoha shinobi. In no time at all, he was as notorious among other shinobi countries as Copy-Nin Kakashi, for his skilled manipulation of demonic plants. It was said that Shippou's favorite summon was a tendriculos, a man-eating ivy-like plant that he could order to do practically anything. But that wasn't true. In fact, Shippou's favorite plant was a violet-white orchid that Kagome was fond of. Shippou was now listed in most Bingo books as the Demon of the Leaves, much like Momochi Zabuza was the Demon of the Mist._

_In other news, Shippou's sane side of the family decided to settle down with him as well. So, now there were six new additions to the Konoha Ninja Academy – three of Shippou's children by a demoness named Souten (Haruko, Nariko, and Umeko), the two children of the demon lord Sesshoumaru and Rin (Keitaro and Sanyu) and a son of Sesshoumaru's younger brother Inuyasha (Inuki). _

_Meanwhile, Shippou's wife Souten would be acting as a jounin ambassador to Kumogakure. Arashi had been slightly doubtful of her abilities, seeing as she had completely skipped the ranks of genin and chuunin, but quickly found he was worrying over nothing. Souten was better than her word, handling all discrepancies and complaints with the cunning of a Kage. In fact, she even joined the border patrol and killed several missing-nins from Kumo with a single lightning-charged strike._

_Interestingly, the villagers didn't seem to know that not a life was lost in the fight against Kyuubi, and that the Yondaime had not gone through with his plans to seal the psycho fox. They simply were all of the opinion that Naruto, since he was born on the same day as the attack, was the Kyuubi's human form and that the shinobi were ignorant of that possibility, and thus they had the right to kick him around. Shippou wondered if it had ever occurred to the villagers that bijuu didn't _have_ the ability to take on human forms. _

_And so we are brought to the present…_

Once again, Shippou was leaping from roof to roof in the Hidden Leaf Village, Konoha. It had been nearly ten years since he'd really needed the speed imparted upon him by his ancestors, but one could never let such skills go rusty. Maybe they had already. Gai had almost hit him during one of their sparring sessions.

With the wind rushing through his hair and the sheer love of an imagined chase, Shippou allowed his mind to wander. Nine full years he'd lived in Konoha. He'd lived in one location for nine years. That was an accomplishment in itself.

Abouttwo years ago, a man by the name of Uchiha Itachi had murdered his entire clan, save his little brother Sasuke. Though he didn't know it, Shippou had managed to stick a seed into Itachi's body using a senbon point as the injection needle. Now, at any given time, Shippou could cause the seed to activate and thus both pinpoint the missing-nin's location and jam all of his chakra release points.

But his greatest accomplishment, in the fox's mind, was splicing a seed that would allow the host's thoughts to be repeated through a second crystal ball (given to the Yondaime as a get-well gift when the man had gotten the flu). The first had been given to the Sandaime as a belated retirement present. That was the second seed he'd planted inside of Itachi. And best of all, Itachi would never know that he was a walking billboard for the Akatsuki's plans.

Souten was doing marvelously with her new role. She could pick up any lie that the politicians came up with and thus was a major asset to the Hokage. As long as she got weekends off, she was as happy as ever giving Haruko, Nariko, and Umeko home schooling to supplement their Academy training. As Souten had said to Shippou during one of the kids' lessons in taijutsu, both parents would be very surprised if they didn't at least pass the genin exam in a few years.

Sesshoumaru had not settled in the village, choosing instead to wander as he had done in days long past. The demon lord had somehow managed to regenerate the left arm he'd lost to Inuyasha, and was a slightly easier person to be around because of it. Rin, as she was a demoness now through unknown means, had decided to live in Konoha with her two sons and baby daughter Amarante, who was still barely able to walk.

Inuyasha, who had managed to make the jewel turn Kagome into a hanyou, and his wife lived happily, raising their three egocentric, cheerful, smart-mouthed children. It was a wonder that they didn't have ANBU tailing all five of the happy family twenty-four seven. But then, Inuyasha and Kagome's attacks in battle had proved more than a match for all but the strongest of opponents. Inuyasha and Kagome were both jounin as well, though Kagome had taken up the position of Tokubetsu Jounin for the second test of the Chuunin Exam.

As for Kakashi, the ever-stoic jounin (who had recently turned twenty-three), he'd found a passion that irritated the hell out of every single female in Konoha. Namely, the _Make Out Paradise_ series of books written by a certain perverted hermit and given to him by the said pervert. As such, Shippou was becoming more than a little worried that the former child prodigy was becoming a Jiraiya clone. But that was an issue for another time, as the fox had arrived at the Academy.

Jumping off the roof and skidding to a stop right in front of the gates, Shippou had to admit he was impressed. The building was bigger than he remembered. And it seemed a bit friendlier to the non-student residents of Konoha. Well, Shippou thought to himself, now was better than never. It would be the first day of school for many children, including his own. And besides, he had a full half-hour before school started. So the fox practically bounced into the Ninja Academy searching for the one responsible for this year's class of potential genin.

It didn't take him long. Umino Iruka was an easy person to find – look for the guy with the scar across his nose and hair in a high ponytail. In fact, Shippou found the ramen-loving chuunin sitting behind his desk, diligently filling out various forms. Shippou didn't interrupt him.

Umino Iruka was one of the few people in Konoha that Shippou thought was a good person. Iruka was honest and understanding, kind to a fault, and an all-around good guy. His main problem was nerves. Iruka was a worrier about everything, and Shippou was pretty sure that would eventually give him some big problems. No wonder the twenty-year-old man hadn't tried to go for the jounin exam.

* * *

One of the things to get used to when one hung around with shinobi a lot was that other people would often approach silently. Thus, Umino Iruka had developed a skill for himself that allowed him to know when other people were in the room with him.

Like right the second that someone had opened the door to his classroom, though the advance warning wasn't necessary. Iruka looked up.

One of the strangest of Konoha's shinobi was Shippou. He didn't have a last name, nor did he really belong to any clan. No one in Konoha could claim blood relation to him, just as no one could to the infamous Hatake Kakashi. Besides, no one in the village even remotely looked like him besides his children. With green eyes and bright red hair, it was a wonder to Iruka's mind why the jounin hadn't been killed on a mission because he didn't blend in with his surroundings.

"Good morning, Iruka-kun." And Shippou always addressed him that way. The red-haired jounin hadn't given a damn years ago when Iruka had been proclaimed an orphan by the village. He had been cast out because his father and mother had died on a mission. No one had acknowledged him, or really cared that he existed. Shippou cared anyway, since, the other man had explained, he'd been orphaned as well. The people in his life now, Shippou had said, were some of the ones that had convinced him that he wasn't alone, and turned him into what he was today.

"Good morning, Shippou-kun." Ordinarily, Iruka would only address Kakashi that way, since the silver-haired jounin was one of the other notable friends that he had. But Shippou had managed to make friends with many shinobi in the village, mostly chuunin and above. That number included Iruka.

He was also an extreme isolationist, a self-denying oxymoron as the term was. For some reason, the redhead would only associate with villagers when absolutely necessary.

"So, are the new kids coming in today?" Shippou asked.

"Yeah. Why do you ask? Do you know someone who's going to start classes today?"

"You could say that. I know seven out of about sixty-something Academy hopefuls that are going to arrive for their first day of school." Shippou smiled. "Haruko, Nariko, and Umeko are my kids. Keitaro and Sanyu are Sesshoumaru's sons. Inuki is Inuyasha's firstborn. Then there's the kid who's somehow got the hatred of an entire town full of villagers – Uzumaki Naruto."

"So, you're worried about them or something?" Iruka asked. He'd heard of the Uzumaki kid through his grocer. He'd been a prankster since he could walk, and it had been mostly chuunin who went after him after he'd pulled a prank. But from the old lady's tone of voice, she'd seemed to think that the pranks were the doing of a demon.

"Yes. And from the look on your face, you've heard the rumors that the villager's have been spreading about Naruto." Shippou said grimly. "He's as good as an orphan himself, given that Arashi hasn't had a day off in nearly four years. Don't treat him based on the villagers' opinions of him. If there's one thing I've learned from Inuyasha, it's that villagers are generally only as smart as the animals they raise." Shippou looked a bit sad at this. But his sorrow was so quickly masked with a foxlike grin that Iruka was sure he'd imagined it.

Iruka didn't have anything to say. So that was why Shippou didn't appreciate the civilians, only growing close to shinobi. As for as he knew, there wasn't a ninja in Konoha who hated the blonde.

"They have _somehow_ gotten it into their heads that the Kyuubi wasn't just driven off nine years ago. They think that he has a human form, and since Naruto just _happened_ to be born on the same day, they think it's him. That's stupid though, because anyone who's done research on the bijuu knows that the things don't have that power." Shippou explained patiently when Iruka had asked why the villagers treated Naruto badly. "Technically, the kid could kill a jounin if he got angry enough. Naruto may not be the Kyuubi, but he does have access to a freaking _huge_ chakra resource that actually is stronger than the Kyuubi."

There was a moment of silence.

"But all the same, I don't think he'll get mad at you if you treat him the same way the villagers do. He's probably used to it by now." Shippou added absently.

If there was anything that Iruka really hated about the jounin in front of him, it was that Shippou almost always used guilt as a negotiation tool. Well, at least he used guilt against Iruka. He used threats of burning the man's perverted literature to get Kakashi to listen for more than three seconds. On people like Mizuki, Shippou often warned the white-haired chuunin to 'back the hell off or you'll never have children'.

Iruka still wasn't completely sure why Shippou trusted him over Mizuki. Mizuki was stronger, after all. But then, even to a jounin, strength wasn't everything.

Now that Iruka thought of it, the redhead reminded him quite a bit of another silver-haired jounin, named Inuyasha. They both had the same strong convictions, fists faster than their mouths, and unforgiving nature when someone was prejudiced against. When asked why, Inuyasha had said in a humorless tone that he'd rather not let anyone else go through the same hellish childhood as he had.

The redhead turned to leave. He was halfway out of the room before Iruka had made up his mind.

"Shippou…" the jounin stopped and turned to look at Iruka, who'd just addressed him. When green met black, Iruka's gaze held the deep conviction of a lifelong promise. "Shippou, he'll get the chance he's never had, if he's with me."

Shippou smiled, all of the weariness and worry gone from his features. "I'll hold you to that."

* * *

Three years later, Shippou was still a crazy fox high on life. He'd advanced in strength by learning to use his youki to deflect nonphysical attacks. He'd also bugged a certain other jounin into teaching him human jutsus. Finally, Shippou had learned to use overgrown fungi and predatory plants from the Forest of Death in his ever-growing arsenal of summoning options. The first time he'd used a treant in battle, he'd been forced to leave the thing in the forest that he'd summoned it, since the tree shepherd hadn't wanted to abandon its newfound 'sheep'. Shippou threw out all of the other treant seeds that had been in his pockets. Now there were whole packs of them prowling around Fire Country, attacking loggers and woodcutters indiscriminately.

Souten had beaten the previous record for missing-nins killed by thirteen. Most recently, she had annihilated a missing-nin from Iwagakure. The thunder youkai was getting stronger every year, and had entered the ranks of the oinin (tracker-ninja). Apparently, Shippou's overbearing wife had decided to hunt down Orochimaru. Scared out of his mind, Shippou hadn't protested.

Inuyasha was still a jounin, though he had decided to go the way of a Tokubetsu Jounin like Kagome had. Now two incredibly powerful nin, one on each side of the chakra spectrum in terms of holiness, were patrolling the Forest of Death during the upcoming Chuunin Exam. If anyone planned to attack during that time – and Shippou knew Orochimaru would – Kagome and Inuyasha would have his head.

Rin was still the same, not changing much since she'd last seen her icicle of a husband. She loved him, loved their children, and loved to smother every one of them with love. If Iruka was too busy to take Naruto to Ichiraku's, Rin and the three-and-a-half year old Amarante went with him, simply because the little girl was developing a craving for ramen every few days. Rin was kind enough to treat Naruto as well sometimes, even if he did leave dent in her wallet.

As for Sesshoumaru, he had gone off to survey the Western Lands (mostly Earth Country and Suna after the development of humans). He sent letters regularly by messenger hawks – every three weeks – that told his family where he was and what he thought of human progress. So far, he'd been extremely disapproving of Iwagakure and had 'seen better places' than Sunagakure. Next, Sesshoumaru wrote, he'd be going on vacation to Wave Country, since the people there didn't try to kill him nearly as often.

After three years, Kakashi had turned twenty-six. He'd registered as a jounin-sensei a while ago, but had an abhorrent track record – Kakashi hadn't passed a _single_ genin team he had been assigned. His friends had given up trying to sway the crazy jounin from his perverted pastime, so now they just bought him one every time a new volume of _Make Out Paradise_ came out.

Iruka was still the average ninja that was an Academy sensei. He hadn't changed much in three years, besides finally reaching a point where Shippou's kids just stuck numbers in his birthday cake, instead of individual candles. Over the years, though, the chuunin had developed a sort of father-son relationship with Naruto. It was nice seeing the two together, but it made Shippou sad to think that Arashi was so out of his son's life that Naruto _needed_ a father-figure.

As for Arashi, the Yondaime Hokage had been burdened down mostly by those insidious Council members and clan heads, who were bent on placing as many restraints on Naruto as possible – the other goal was to get Arashi out of the way. Just one day's worth of paperwork could have fifty percent of the documents asking him to sign over all his power to the Council. It kept him on his toes and in the Hokage Tower. Sometimes, Shippou wondered if Arashi had aged five years in that stupid office for every one that passed outside.

That all reminded Shippou of one thing – it was the graduation exam today. How, he didn't know, but it did, which was why he was bolting across the rooftops to the Konoha Ninja Academy. A few heads turned up disapprovingly from the ground, but Shippou brushed that off. The rooftops were faster than street-level travel, if one knew what they were doing.

"Shippou!" the said fox skidded to a stop right where he was. He turned around.

Who would be jumping toward him but Kagome, the very person who could brighten anyone's day? The white-and-green-clad Tokubetsu Jounin ran up to him, panting. It was to be expected. Shippou was a youkai, but Kagome was only a hanyou at best. Two P.M. was not her best time.

"Kagome-neechan!" the fox greeted happily. She grinned at him. Kagome may have been a hanyou, but she wasn't nearly as depressed as Inuyasha would have been during his weakness time. Kagome looked fully human now, because she was only hanyou at night. Right now, she was an ordinary human girl who'd had a lot of ninja training.

"So, Shippou-kun, where are you going in such a hurry?" she asked when she'd regulated her breathing again. Kagome had stopped using -chan in reference to him after he'd gotten taller than her.

"I'm going to see if Iruka's going to hold anyone back this year." Shippou said. He grinned and she beamed back at him.

"In other words, you're going to see if Naruto-kun passed the Genin Exam, right?" Kagome said, looking amused. Actually, that was selling it short. Her brown eyes were practically glowing with happiness.

"Yeah," Shippou said. "Hey, what's got you so happy?"

Kagome gave him a look that reminded him strongly of a fox grin. Shippou hadn't needed to ask. He already knew. With only one child, Kagome would have conquered most of the parental challenges, but Inuki would be getting bored with no siblings. Shippou also doubted it was Inuyasha's idea.

"When were you going to tell me?"

"Inuyasha said to wait a while, but I was going to tell Rin-chan first."

"Telling Rin-chan and not me?" Shippou whined. "That's so unfair."

"It is not! Rin is going to be the baby's aunt, you know," Kagome scolded. After a moment, she said, "Say, weren't you going somewhere?"

There was a pregnant (no pun intended!) pause.

"Crap! I'm late," and the fox zoomed off, leaving his deceptively young-looking foster mother wondering what had happened.

Speeding towards the building like a bat out of Hell, Shippou was still only fast enough to get to the Academy as the final bell rang. Damn. And Shippou already knew that Naruto had failed. His Bunshin, according to the future Iruka, had looked like it's gotten a severe hangover.

Sighing, Shippou settled himself to wait on a park bench for things to be set into motion. Naruto would sit, dejected, on that schoolyard swing for a minute or two before leaving. Then he'd walk home. And on the way home, he'd meet Mizuki, thus starting the whole 'Scavenger Hunt' for the Forbidden Scroll.

"Sometimes, I hate being right." Shippou muttered, glaring at nothing. The look on his face, though undirected, was enough to send most chuunin and genin scurrying. Jounin like Hatake Kakashi, on the other hand, wouldn't be intimidated no matter what you did. Or chuunin like Umino Iruka, for that matter.

"You hate being right?" Shippou looked up. Iruka was looking faintly annoyed, too. The chuunin sat next to him on that old park bench.

"Yeah. I _knew_ that kid was gonna' fail the exam, but all I did was stand around, not helping him practice." Shippou muttered. "But still, what could I have done? The only ones in our family who have enough spare time for anything can't teach him because we never _learned_ Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique). Hell, Rin isn't even a fighter."

"So, you're blaming yourself for his failing? Why should you? He could have practiced on his own." Iruka put in. Shippou had a nagging feeling that Iruka was being cold on purpose. The fox also knew that people were often cold to conceal their true emotions. Actually, Iruka was starting to remind him of Mizuki.

"That's just it, Iruka; he can practice on his own. But you know what happens when he gets bored…" Shippou trailed off, reminding the chuunin of the Oiroke no Jutsu (Ninja Centerfold or Sexy Technique). Iruka shuddered.

There was a long silence between the two, and Shippou decided to make use of this time by staring at clouds. _That one looks like a rabbit_…

After a while longer, Iruka muttered, "I'm going home."

"See ya tomorrow, then." Shippou said, still staring into the sky. When Iruka finally left his range of senses, Shippou started to move. Sunset was coming, Naruto had long disappeared, and the scroll would soon be stolen. Shippou left the park and walked home.

For the next four hours, he spent his time congratulating his children for their performance on the exam, congratulating Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's kids on their success, and getting his pride bent out of shape by his wife's venomous tongue. She'd been annoyed. Apparently, Souten had lost Orochimaru and had instead latched onto Zabuza of the Mist, but had lost him in that selfsame mist. Then she and all of their children had gone to bed.

And then the summons came. A chuunin that Shippou didn't know very well (the fox thought the man's name was Yasuo) nearly bashed his front door down. Shippou calmly answered the door, and then surveyed the sweaty brown-haired chuunin in front of him.

"What do you want? It's nearly ten o'clock." Shippou said, pretending to be stern. In reality, he already knew what was happening. The night of the scroll theft had come at last.

"A thousand pardons, Shippou-sempai!" Yasuo gasped. "But the Forbidden Scroll has been stolen."

"You're sure!" Shippou yelled, but still being careful not to rouse his wife.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Yasuo replied, apparently getting frustrated. "If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't be here! Uzumaki Naruto stole the Forbidden Scroll, and the Sandaime has summoned all of us chuunin and jounin."

"Sandaime? Where's the Yondaime?" Shippou asked, conscious of the man's strange wording.

"The Yondaime Hokage-sama is out in Suna. We're negotiating a treaty!" Yasuo yelled, right hand fisting in Shippou's ninja vest. "Look, I don't have any more time to play word games with you. Are you coming or not!"

Shippou followed the chuunin without another word.

* * *

As Shippou basically tuned out the Hokage's entire speech, he had his eyes on Mizuki. He was a damn traitor, and he was going to pay. So Shippou spent a full minute trying to burn a hole in the back of Mizuki's head only using his eyes.

Then Shippou refocused on Iruka. If he brought Iruka to Naruto too quickly, the boy would never learn Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique). But if he let things go completely unchecked, Iruka could die.

Shippou decided to run back his house and get a watch so he could pace himself.

When he got back, Shippou noticed various shinobi using Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to move swiftly from one point to another, usually along rooftops. Iruka, on the other hand, was bouncing like a ping-pong ball off of every possible surface, considerably tiring him out but also producing a more thorough search.

Shippou followed along, never using Shunshin no Jutsu mostly because it was a waste of youki. Shippou could achieve that speed without using any extra energy. Such were the blessings of those with youkai blood.

And so it went. The ninjas of Konoha searched feverishly for the missing blonde, but their efforts were in vain. There was simply no sign ofUzumaki Naruto anywhere. Well, unless they were Shippou, Inuyasha, or Kagome. There would be a fairly obvious trail to them, but Inuyasha and Kagome were off guarding the Yondaime Hokage in Sunagakure no Sato, and Shippou wasn't really making an effort. Shippou was spending his two hours before crunch time by following Iruka around.

Shippou's watch buzzed twelve o'clock. It was midnight, and time to begin the real hunt.

"Iruka-kun!" the fox shouted. The brown-haired chuunin turned around to look at him questioningly. Shippou could only tell that Iruka was looking at him after he'd opened his vertical pupils a bit more. Damn the darkness.

"What is it, Shippou-kun?" Iruka panted. _Iruka, Iruka,_ Shippou thought dryly, _you care so much about your students, and would kill yourself from chakra depletion if only you could confront him._

"I have an ability to detect people by scent," Shippou said carefully, but also as casually as possible. "I have just sensed Naruto-kun. He is in the forest, near the abandoned cabin."

Belatedly, Shippou noted that he hadn't needed to say anything about his abilities. The chuunin had practically ripped through him to shave a few seconds off his journey. And then Iruka had been at the forest's edge, tossing over his shoulder a, "Are you coming or not!"

Shippou slapped his hand to his forehead before following, wondering how in hell Iruka had gotten a desk job at the Academy when he moved so fast.

Eventually, Iruka had slowed down enough that Shippou could get in front and lead the way. Eventually as in a whole half hour.

"You know, you and Naruto both seem to be bent on driving me crazy," the fox muttered darkly, not in the best of moods.

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"…" the fox didn't say anything. Sometimes, Shippou wondered if ninjas were deaf, willfully or otherwise.

"Uh…" Iruka said into the silence, not aware that Shippou was giving him a very weird look under the cover of the night.

"Whatever. Let's keep going." Shippou said finally. "He's about a hundred yards that way." The fox pointed directly ahead and Iruka bolted. He trailed after the chuunin at a more sedate pace, but extended his senses to their limits to track down that damn albino, Mizuki. _That freak has to be around here somewhere…_

Again, Shippou ignored everything that didn't pertain to his self-imposed, mission, and that included Iruka's realization that Naruto had no idea what he was doing and Naruto's sheepishness. Or, at least until Naruto directly addressed him.

"Shippou-niichan, what are you doing here?" If his estimates were right, Naruto wouldn't be smiling for long.

"Originally, everyone chuunin and up was assigned to track you down and bring you to the Hokage." Shippou replied, not taking his eyes off of the trees. Mizuki was there, he just _knew_ it. "Apparently though, you don't know a thing about the scroll or what it contains."

That led Shippou to a very interesting train of thought. If a village didn't want outsiders to learn forbidden jutsu, why write them down on a three-foot scroll? Humans had some pretty messed-up logic.

"Mizuki-sensei told me, duh! He said it contains super-powerful jutsu that'll let me pass the Genin Exam!" Naruto announced, puffing out his chest proudly.

Iruka froze. "Then…Mizuki is…"

"A traitor," the fox finished so only Iruka could hear, still scanning the forest for any sign of white. His eyes had even gone red when Shippou had pressed more youki into them, but neither of his companions noticed.

He needn't have bothered.

Dozens of shuriken and kunai flew out of nowhere in a deadly rain of projectiles. Iruka's first instinct was to get Naruto out of danger. Naruto couldn't react fast enough and would have died if Iruka hadn't shoved him out of the way.

And who would have been throwing all of those weapons but Mizuki, the traitorous chuunin.

Shippou absently noted that Iruka had been struck with a kunai right next to his shuriken holster. The cloth had turned red with his blood. Iruka grimaced in pain as he yanked the blade out, tossing it aside.

"What the hell do you want, Mizuki-teme!" Shippou spat, though he already knew the answer. At his side, the sudden burst of youki (which accompanied any severe change in mood) was making his nails lengthen into claws and his eyes grow even more demonic.

"Why, surely you jest!" Mizuki said in a mocking tone. His white hair was mostly hidden under his bandana-style hitai-ate, which explained why Shippou hadn't spotted him before. On his back was two of the Fuuma clan's style of shuriken, easily identifiable by their size.

"I don't joke. You should know as much, _traitor_!" the jounin snarled, his tone dripping with venom. "What do you want the scroll for? No ordinary ninja can even use one of those jutsus!"

All the while, Naruto was growing more and more confused. What Shippou didn't know was that Naruto had already perfected Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Mass Shadow Clone Technique), and was wondering if what the fox had said meant that Naruto wasn't normal. That could be good, like above-average, or bad…

"You must have noticed by now, Shippou! I have the potential to become a jounin at any time, so of course I can use the scroll's contents to their fullest!" Mizuki said, laughing his head off. Everyone present was fairly certain that Mizuki hadn't had much of a head to speak of in the first place. He was as crazy as a loon.

"A jounin _is_ normal, fool! The only ones who can use even the most basic technique off of that list have to have the stamina comparable to the Yondaime Hokage!" Shippou snapped, not noticing the almost pleased look on Naruto's face. So, he had the potential to be Hokage after all!

"Besides which, if you're such a damned coward as to have to trick a potential genin into stealing it for you, the techniques would still be useless! Only those ninjas who have the guts to risk their lives at any time would even dare to try any of them," Shippou continued, stealthily attempting at coaxing a nearby treant into clubbing Mizuki. His attempts didn't seem to be working.

"Just give back the scroll, Mizuki!" Iruka yelled. Shippou silently swore that if Mizuki's kunai had sliced open one of Iruka's vital arteries, the white-haired man wouldn't live to see another second.

By this point, Mizuki was losing is temper. How dare such an undistinguished jounin and a perfectly average chuunin try to boss him around? None of the nin on the ground had any forewarning before a giant Fuuma Clan-style shuriken zoomed through the air. The fox realized too late that he wouldn't be able to draw enough youki fast enough to stop the shuriken's progress. A fraction of a second later, Shippou realized that Iruka was the target.

"Iruka-kun, move!" the fox shouted. Iruka wouldn't move. Or maybe he couldn't. All the same, the chuunin did nothing to get out of the projectile's path.

"Iruka-kun, if you don't move you'll die!" Shippou tried again. Iruka looked at him. It was a dead gaze, the look that haunted the faces of those who'd lost the will to live.

At that moment, Shippou comprehended several things at once. First, Iruka had already accepted death, even by a former comrade's hand. Second, Shippou's youki wasn't coming back to him fast enough, since he had used it to try and entice the treant from before. Third, if Iruka died…

…_If Iruka dies, Naruto's control over his inner youki will snap. Say hello to Kyuubi no Naruto_, Shippou thought, horrified. _He'll send you all to Hell for not saving his most precious person._

"_TAIJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!_" With a mildly pleasant but still surprised jolt, Shippou remembered that Naruto wasn't frozen in shock or fear. And he also remembered that with Iruka injured, the blonde would be far more likely to beat the living hell out of Mizuki. _Thank kami-sama for human predictability_, Shippou thought.

The entire clearing was downright flooded with Naruto's Kage Bunshin. They covered everything, from ground surface to nearby tree branches. Shippou grinned. Mizuki paled.

"Well, if you aren't coming to us–" began one.

"–We'll come to you!" shouted another.

Needless to say, Mizuki was completely out by the time Naruto's Kage Bunshin had been dismissed. The blonde had more than proved himself in terms of having the potential to become a genin. In Iruka's eyes, he had probably also proved that he could become Hokage after only a few years of training.

As Iruka presented Naruto with his hitai-ate, Shippou dragged the unconscious traitor back into Konoha to be dealt with.

The first step had been taken. The rest was up to Kakashi.

* * *

A/N: So, Naruto's genin test is over. The second major chapter from Shippou's POV is over.

Naruto, instead of having that demon-sealing seal on his stomach, actually has something closer to a non-malignant Curse Seal. Instead of giving him access to Orochimaru's chakra, his seal means that Naruto can access both the Kyuubi's and Shippou's youki. When you consider that he already had the fox marks when he was born, Naruto is the best candidate of the Leaf for such a procedure.

Besides, I couldn't leave him as a normal ninja. A normal ninja would stand absolutely _no_ chance against people like Kisame. He wouldn't be able to use Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and still be standing, either.


	3. One Step Closer

Chapter Three: One Step Closer

A/N: As of last chapter, I have typed twenty-eight pages in this story. Wow. As for the Team Seven bell test, Shippou isn't going to be there. He's got a meeting, Souten's off practicing with her brother's Thunder Pike, Inuyasha and Kagome are preparing for the upcoming Chuunin Exam, Rin's a housewife, and Sesshoumaru's got no reason to be coming back to Konoha. So, that leaves the kids of the family to have their test. Also, Nariko, Haruko and Sanyu are unusually bright kids with demon parents, so don't be surprised if they know things that Team Seven don't.

For future reference, Kagome can summon boars, Inuyasha can summon eagles, and Shippou can summon his plant monsters. Souten and Sesshoumaru don't summon because she has Kouryuu,and Sesshoumaru's so strong he doesn't need a summon.

Sesshoumaru and Rin's legal last name is Inutaisho. Inuyasha shares the Higurashi name with Kagome. Shippou and Souten think its toomuch of a bother to get a last name, so their kids don't have 'em, either.

And if you see 'Kazama Naruto' anywhere, tell me and I'll change it. It's supposed to be Uzumaki.

* * *

Haruko woke up early the next morning, bouncing out of bed like a struck tennis ball. He grinned when he realized what day it was – Iruka-sensei was going to announce the genin teams. The thunder-fox was only too happy about that. 

Maybe he could be with his siblings, Nariko and Umeko!

Speaking of which, his sisters were still asleep. So, with the mischievousness of the fox he was, Haruko snuck into his sisters' bedroom, and gave his signature thunder clap. Really, it was just a burst of his inherited thunder youkai energy, but it sure woke people up. Nariko and Umeko both responded by nearly bashing their brother's head in.

Haruko and his sisters looked basically the same – darker red hair than their father's, with reddish eyes. Their temperaments were similar too, but Nariko was more levelheaded than Haruko, while Umeko was more of a prankster than either of her siblings. Their skills were also different – Nariko was a genjustu specialist, Haruko was taijutsu and ninjustu, while Umeko did everything that Shippou had done in his youth.

But for all their differences and their similarities, Haruko loved his siblings and wanted to be on the same team with them.

When the three got to the Ninja Academy, though, Haruko already knew that that wasn't possible. Genin were generally split into three-man cells. While that would have been fine, the three-man cells always consisted of two boys and a girl.

Nariko and Umeko knew as much, so they were all sulking by the time class started.

"All right, time to start grouping genin teams." Iruka called. Haruko and his siblings all sat in the back row, so they just barely heard their chuunin sensei.

Though, Haruko did take note of the fact that their teacher was covered with bandages, particularly on the leg that normally held his shuriken holster. Shippou _had_ come home unusually late from a mission briefing last night… Haruko dismissed the idea. There was no wayShippou would hurt his friend.

Teams One through Five were called before a names Haruko remembered were called. "Team Six: Haruko, Inutaisho Sanyu, and Nariko." Haruko silently cheered.

"Team Seven:Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke." Haruko swore he heard Naruto and Sakura both groan and cheer right after one another.

"Team Eight: Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino."

"Team Nine: Higurashi Inuki, Umeko, and Inutaisho Keitaro."

"Team Ten: Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino."

As Iruka rolled up the scroll he'd been reading out loud, Haruko smiled at his sister. Nariko and he were on a team, and with Sanyu no less.

Sanyu was a weird kid. He had short white hair and yellow-gold eyes, but he wore a hat and sunglasses to hide them. Like the other members of his team, he was a full-youkai. That gave them a distinct advantage over the other teams, with the possible exception of Team Nine. Also, Sanyu was quiet. He rarely did anything without being asked, and utterly lacked the pride that made his father's family infamous. If anything, he took after his mother, Rin.

Also, whereas Haruko and Nariko specialized in one or more ninja skills, Sanyu was someone who almost completely relied upon bluffing his way out of dangerous situations. When Sanyu activated his demon blood to the fullest, even Haruko had to admit that he looked pretty scary. Therefore, Sanyu hadn't developed fighting skills as much as even Haruno Sakura had.

In other words, Sanyu was something that would drag Team Six down unless he got to work on something.

Nariko was a genjutsu specialist, which meant that she'd really need to learn some ninjutsu and taijutsu to compensate if an opponent broke the spell. Of course, some of her techniques were dangerous enough to a person's psyche that she might not need the precaution.

Team Nine, on the other hand, had a completely different problem.

Inuki had really taken after his father – he was loud, crude, and spoke his mind about everything. He was the 'I' on his team. But all the same, Inuki was a confident kid who didn't know fear, which was what Team Nine needed. Inuki had gold eyes and white hair that he let grow to shoulder length. He wore a hat or bandana at all times to hide his dog ears, which were perched on the top of his head.

Keitaro lived up to his name, being a born genius and fairly headstrong in his own right. Unlike his cousin Inuki, Keitaro thought over everything thoroughly, which practically guaranteed his success when he had sufficient time to plan. Also, Keitaro never went through with a plan unless he was certain that there would be no risk to him or anyone close to him. He would be a good Hokage if he ever felt the urge for power. Keitaro had black hair and gold eyes, his hair color coming from his mother, Rin. Keitaro had short elfin ears like his father, and always wore his hair so that his ears were not shown.

Umeko was who she was – a prankster. She didn't bluff her way out of unpleasant situations; instead, she used her fox illusions to give her opponents enough of a hampering that she could flee. Some of her techniques, like Kitsune-bi, could be used as dangerous offensive moves if she trained some. Others would be good for trapping an opponent, like the stone statue trick and the destructive top. Her red eyes identified her as a youkai, but she didn't care. Umeko was a little too naive to comprehend the concept of secrecy and shyness.

As for the other siblings of Sanyu, Keitaro, and Inuki, they were still too young to even attend the Academy.

Haruko poked his sister. "Who do you think our sensei's going to be?"

Nariko considered his question for a full ten seconds before replying in a low tone, "It has to be someone with youkai blood. We're all too strong when we use our powers, so maybe kaasan or Kagome-baachan will be our sensei."

There was a pause.

"I'm betting on Kagome-baachan," Haruko said finally. "There's no way that she'd try to be Inuki's mom _and_ his jounin sensei. That's too much 'quality time', even for her."

"Team Six's jounin sensei is Higurashi Kagome-san." Iruka said, quickly moving on to Team Seven's sensei, Hatake Kakashi. The sensei of Team Eight was Yuuhi Kurenai.

"Team Nine's sensei is Inutaisho Sesshoumaru-san." Iruka-sensei continued. Haruko almost yelped in surprise. Sesshoumaru hadn't even been in Konoha for more than ten minutes in the last twelve years! What made him good material for Team Nine's sensei?

"So, Umeko is going to be taught by the infamous Lord of the West, Sesshoumaru-sama." Nariko muttered to Haruko, as Team Ten's sensei was revealed to be Sarutobi Asuma. "We can expect great things from her, and from Inuki and Keitaro."

Nariko didn't seem to be put off by the unfairness of the team evaluation at all. Haruko was about to voice his opinion when she interrupted. "Haruko, don't forget that Kagome-baachan is no person to brush off in battle either. Besides, sometimes the worst teams need a better sensei for them to improve enough."

Haruko gazed at his sister blankly. "What?"

Nariko sighed, as if she were dealing with someone who was particularly dense. "Team Nine is the weaker of the two youkai-blooded teams. They need a good sensei so they'll be an asset to the village. As for us, we might be too heavily specialized in combat. Kagome-baachan is a healer, after all."

"Oh. Okay, I understand." Haruko looked at Sanyu, who was counting the ceiling tiles. "Do you think he understands?"

"If he's his father's son, he will. Remember, Keitaro is smart, but takes too long to react and can't do anything besides strategize. Maybe Sanyu got the part that Keitaro lacks." Nariko said.

"I sure hope so, or Kagome-baachan is going to kill us."

* * *

About an hour later, Team Nine said goodbye to their counterparts on Team Six as Sesshoumaru led them away. Haruko had little doubt that they would pass. Now the only teams left inside the building were Team Six and Seven. Kakashi was renowned for being chronically tardy, but Kagome wasn't. 

Haruko sighed for the fourth in a row as the wall clock ticked off another minute.

"Really Haruko, it isn't too bad, even with the Uchiha here." Nariko tried to soothe her brother, but he just sighed again. There was one thing about fox-blood that the triplets really hated – it was that one constantly needed to be entertained.

"Hey, at least we don't have Kakashi as a sensei." Sanyu offered. "He's late so often for jounin meetings that Uncle Inuyasha swears he's going to kill him next time."

At this, Haruko smiled. How could he not, when Sanyu's innocent statement had horrified Team Seven?

"Yeah, I guess so," Haruko agreed. "That reminds me of something. Did Rin-san tell you what was up with Kakashi's left eye?"

"No," was the mutual response.

"Well, Otousan did." Haruko said. "Otousan said that Kakashi's left eye is red, and it lets him see stuff better."

"How so?" Nariko asked. With that statement, Haruko had caught the attention of everyone still in the room. There were only genin, since Iruka-sensei had left to see to his other classes.

"It's an eye technique, like the Byakugan. Only it's supposed to be better. Otousan didn't tell me much, but he said that the eye can allow the user to have a bit of an ability to see into the future, or whatever the word was." Haruko explained.

Sanyu considered this, eyes closing in concentration. "There are only two eye techniques I can think of that work anything like that, but according to the official records, everyone who can use either of them is dead."

Nariko nodded. "Maybe he's off his rocker on this one." However, the vixen leveled her gaze at Sasuke, who was watching the three intently. "Uchiha-san, I wouldn't recommend asking Hatake-san about this. From what I can gather, Otousan has known Hatake-san for thirteen years, and still knows relatively little about him. You probably won't know more than his name by next week."

Sasuke snorted and went back to brooding, glaring at Team Six. Though, it was rather difficult to be intimidating when one had a pink-haired fangirl hanging over him. As if on cue, Haruko started snickering. He couldn't help it – the Uchiha looked so funny, like a wet cat in a bath scowling at his owner for an introduction to water.

Uchiha Sasuke was a strange kid. He was twelve, but knew more about ninjutsu than most kids his age. He was even rumored to be able to use Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique). He was also apparently very good looking, since almost all of the girls in their class fawned over him. However, Haruko was still worried. Some said that Sasuke's older brother had killed his entire family. Haruko wasn't sure what to think of it, but wasn't predisposed to believing adult gossip.

Haruno Sakura was a funny girl. She clung to Sasuke like a leech, as much as Yamanaka Ino did. Sakura had the best written scores in the class, but her brain seemed to die whenever Sasuke was the topic. As far as Haruko knew, she had two non-shinobi parents and they were protective of their little girl, and she'd had no childhood tragedies.

Uzumaki Naruto was a fox in all ways that mattered. He loved pulling pranks on people, he was quick-witted when he needed to be, and he persevered where others never could have. Naruto was a survivor, but he'd had the absolute lowest grades in the class. How did the blonde genin pass the graduation exam? All Haruko really knew about the boy was that he wasn't well liked by the villagers, and that Rin-san invited him over to her house for dinner a lot.

"Yo, Naruto-kun," Sanyu said, still looking immensely bored. "Why don't you pull a prank on your sensei when he shows up? That'll teach him not to be so late." Haruko and Nariko glanced at their teammate, wondering if he was suicidal.

"But don't do it until we're gone, okay? Kagome has a horrible temper, and she's more likely to kill you than Hatake-san is," Sanyu lied easily. Haruko doubted that even Shippou would be able to see through such a casual façade.

Nonetheless, within ten minutes Kagome appeared, apologizing profusely for not being on time. As Team Nine said their goodbyes, Haruko heard Naruto grabbing a stool to put Sanyu's suggestion into action.

* * *

"So, what are we doing as a graduation exam?" Sanyu asked Kagome as they passed Team Seven's training ground (as of yet unoccupied). All of the teams' training grounds lined up on one side of Konoha's surrounding forestland. Team Six's training ground was farther away from the Academy than all but Team One's. 

"Well, I already know you can work together well, since you aren't as stubborn as Team Nine," Kagome started. "I was thinking of testing your individual skills. Would that be okay?"

Team Six looked at each other before nodding. They could work together well, so a teamwork drill would be pointless. However, each was still uncertain of the others' ability.

"All right then. Nariko, you're up first." Kagome declared, picking a summoning scroll out of her scroll pouch. The adult kunoichi stabbed her thumb with a kunai (withdrawn from her pocket) before running her bleeding finger down the unraveling scroll.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)!" the kunoichi cried.

The summoning produced a bear-sized boar, brown as any other boar, with tusks like swords. Haruko recognized the boar as a mid-level summon, one named Inoshi. The beast snorted and made a huffing sound, as if he was dissatisfied with his opponents.

"On my mark, Inoshi here will try to attack you. Nariko, it is your job to try and defend." Kagome explained. The vixen nodded nervously. Kagome's arms shot up. "Begin!"

Inoshi charged. Nariko instantly slipped into a sloppy taijutsu stance, just barely managing to avoid being trampled by jumping over the beast. Inoshi turned and squealed angrily before charging again.

This continued for about a minute before Nariko began to get tired from the constant movement. So, she decided to do what she was best at.

"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique)!" Nariko shouted, using her most advanced genjutsu (a D-rank one, at that). The boar immediately froze, an expression of pure fear crossing its piggy face. Inoshi squealed and squealed, trying to rid its mind of the terrible vision.

"Very nice, Nariko. Please dispel your genjutsu so we may continue." Kagome instructed. Nariko did as she was told, canceling the illusion with barely a thought.

Almost instantly, the boar perked up before looking at Kagome questioningly.

"It's alright, Inoshi. Your next opponent is Haruko, so do as you did before." Kagome said to the boar summon in her warm tone. She was a kind soul, so no one but the most coldhearted of beings could hate her.

"Ready? Go!" Kagome called. As he had before, Inoshi charged. But unlike his sister, Haruko had not slacked off in taijutsu.

Haruko slipped into the Drunken Fist style as easily as he ever had. If there was one thing to be learned from Rock Lee, it was that the Drunken Fist style had its uses.

As Inoshi continued on his attempt to trample the young fox, Haruko leaned out of the way. As the boar was about to react, the fox used his favorite jutsu – Shunshin no Jutsu! Inoshi didn't even see Haruko move as he used the extra speed to get away.

"Kanashibari no Jutsu (Temporary Paralysis Technique)!" Haruko shouted, quickly creating all of the necessary hand seals. Inoshi stumbled and fell, twitching. The monstrous boar didn't get up.

"Very good." Kagome said. She turned to the third member of Team Six. "Sanyu, come here." The white-haired boy did as he was told, his yellow eyes looking at Kagome blankly.

"Use your chakra to dispel Haruko's jutsu." Kagome instructed.

Sanyu nodded, his palms glowing blue. He pressed his glowing hands to the boar's side before Inoshi stood up and shook off the jutsu. The boar almost grinned at Sanyu. And then Inoshi poofed away in a cloud of gray smoke.

"Good job, Sanyu." Kagome said with a grin. "You proved that combat isn't all youkai can do."

"Kagome-sensei?" Nariko asked.

"Yes?"

"Why did you have Haruko and me attack Inoshi while Sanyu got to heal him?" she asked.

Kagome smiled softly at her. "At the Academy, Sanyu didn't specialize in anything. He was viewed as a bad student. But in fact, Sanyu was training to be a medic-nin under my supervision. Now was as good a time as any to show you."

"Wow," said Haruko. There was a stunned silence. Then everything burst to life at once.

"You really can heal and stuff? Awesome!" "Teach me!" "No, teach me first!" "Me!"

"You see, Sanyu? They don't think any less of you for being a healer rather than a fighter." Kagome said with a small laugh.

After the exam, which had only lasted ten minutes, Kagome had dismissed them to go bug Kakashi's team. The former priestess had had enough of their persistence about missions, and had thus sent them off.

The three members of Team Six had grinned mischivously at each other before Henge no Jutsu-ing into their favored animal forms – Nariko and Haruko were reddish-black foxes, while Sanyu was a large white dog.

"_This is going to be fun_." Sanyu laughed to his teammates.

Haruko and Nariko both wore identical fox grins in answer.

The three animals bounded into the forest to Team Seven's training ground. It took about a minute of weaving through underbrush, getting fur snagged on leaves, and tripping on stones and leaf litter.

Then there came the scents. Haruko could smell the Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto easily through the dense woods, even with Nariko and Sanyu so close by.

"_I'll take Naruto_," Haruko yipped at the other two. "_Nariko, go for Sakura. Sanyu, go bug Sasuke_."

The other two nodded and each gave a yapping bark before leaving Haruko's sight.

Silently, the fox crept towards his objective – an open area lit with streetlamps. And in the center of this clearing was a giant onyx monument, the Memorial Stone. At the base of the stone were two boxed lunches.

Haruko grinned; even if Naruto had somewhat advanced senses compared to normal humans, he'd never be able to smell the fox coming. With that thought, the fox settled in next to the Memorial Stone to wait. After all, Team Seven's lunches were here.

"Well, what have we here?" Haruko recognized Kakashi's voice easily, as Shippou had once nagged the other man into coming to dinner. The gray-haired jounin was giving the fox-boy an intrigued look. With the one eye he had uncovered, that is.

"_Hatake-san_," Haruko said. "_My name's Haruko. I'm from Team Six_." It was difficult to use human words from a vulpine mouth, but somehow the boy managed.

"Kagome's team, then? What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked, giving the fox a one-eyed look. It wasn't every day that a fox that could talk came to the Memorial Stone. And since when did Kagome teach foxes?

"_Hatake-san, my team and I finished our exam a while ago._" Haruko said. "_Kagome-sensei told us to go 'bug someone else'._" Then the air around the fox exploded into gray smoke. As the smoke cleared, it became obvious that the fox was merely a Henge form.

Standing in front of the masked jounin was a red-haired boy of about twelve years. His eyes were catlike and red, but seemed to take on a more humanlike appearance as the pupils widened.

"Yo." Haruko greeted, grinning. He tucked his hands behind his head sheepishly. "Originally, I was just supposed to see if Naruto had killed himself by chakra depletion yet. Sanyu and Nariko were going to see to Sasuke and Sakura."

Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow. "So, you were interfering with my team's mission? That could get you sent back to the Academy, you know."

"Yeah, I know. But we weren't doing anything that would get them into danger. Actually, since Sanyu decided to bother Sasuke, I'd say he's in more danger than your team is." Haruko said after a minute. He grinned again, unknowingly displaying the short fangs that marked his father's kin as who they were. "Besides which, it's _our_ sensei's job to flunk us."

Kakashi eye-smiled at that before turning serious. "I suppose it is. But all the same, would the three of you mind getting out of our training area? I have a feeling that Sasuke's not out of projectiles."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, old man." Haruko yawned, waving him off. In a poof of smoke, the young fox was gone.

Kakashi chuckled lightly to himself as one of Haruko's teammates (if he recalled, the boy's name was Sanyu) burst from the forest and chased Sasuke this way and that around the clearing. The massive white dog caught or dodged every one of the Uchiha's weapons. Sasuke shouted various obscenties as he ran.

At about the same time, Sakura ran screaming from the woods behind Kakashi. A second fox who looked a lot like Haruko's fox form darted after her, a patch of red fabric trailing from its mouth. If he had to guess, Kakashi thought that the new fox was Haruko's sister Nariko. And that Nariko had ripped a section of fabric from Sakura's dress.

Finally, Naruto walked out of the woods, looking confused as to why his teammates were being chased by animals.

"Okay, Team Six. You can stop now." At that command, the fox and dog halted in their tracks, watching Kakashi as if they expected him to say something more.

"First of all, get out of your Henge shapes." The fox and dog did as they were told. Then there was a redheaded girl with red eyes and a white-haired boy with yellow eyes instead of the animals.

"Sanyu-kun! Nariko-chan! What the hell were you doing to Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme!" Naruto yelled, reminding everyone else rather harshly why he was called the Loudmouth Ninja of Konoha.

Nariko winced at Naruto's volume before answering. "Same thing as Haruko was telling Hatake-san." She was ignored.

Sanyu smirked at the Uchiha genius at that. "A genius like you couldn't unravel a simple Henge? Pathetic."

"Don't make fun of Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted at Sanyu. She was also ignored.

Sasuke glared daggers at Sanyu. "At least I made it to the top of the class, Sanyu."

"And for what? Your skill depended on luck, apparently. You couldn't hit a target if it was ten meters across!" Sanyu snarled back. Though the white-haired boy was normally passive, something about the Uchiha apparently got under his skin.

"Sanyu-kun…" Nariko murmured, too shocked by her teammate's behavior to say anything else.

Kakashi watched the exchange with a growing headache. Sanyu and Sasuke both knew how to jab each other where it would hurt.

At the same time, two voices yelled, "Knock it off!" One belonged to Kakashi, but the other belonged to Team Six's sensei, Higurashi Kagome.

Kagome was a woman who looked to be in her early to mid-twenties, though with women it was hard to tell sometimes. Her black hair was tied into a sort of loose ponytail (A/N: think Kikyou). Two locks of hair fell in front of her ears, curling to join the main mass when they were at shoulder length. Kagome's eyes were a warm brown. Her hitai-ate was like a bandana covering the top of her head. She wore a dark green blouse with puffed sleeves. Her pants were the dark blue of standard chuunin wardrobe. Kagome's red bow was strapped across her back, as well as a quiver full of arrows.

"Sanyu, leave Uchiha-san alone and come on. Nariko, you say goodbye to Team Seven and apologize for the trouble you've caused them." Kagome barked, reminding the two that she was their sensei.

Sanyu and Sasuke glared at each other before Sanyu followed his sensei's retreating back.

Nariko sighed. She held up the piece of Sakura's dress and it poofed out of existence. The missing part of the pink-haired girl's dress suddenly reattached itself.

"I'm sorry, Haruno-san, Uchiha-san." Nariko said with a bow. She quickly looked up, locking eyes with Sakura. "But in return for not killing Sanyu, I am willing to give you a bit of advice – each one of you has a strength, and a weakness. Play off each others' strengths, defend each other from weaknesses when they are exploited. While our exams may have been different in purpose, they were really the same."

With that, the girl turned, following her sensei and her teammate.

* * *

At Team Nine's training ground, which was about three hundred yards away from both Team Ten and Team Eight's areas, things were going similar to the way that they had at Team Six's. 

For a start, Sesshoumaru had bluntly told them that teamwork was the only way to live past thirteen, and that was that. Inuki, he'd said with a glance in the boy's direction, was too headstrong to be an asset when acting alone. Umeko couldn't be trusted to get everyone out alive if she only focused on cheap distractions, and Keitaro was supposed to _move_!

"Keitaro, spar with Inuki. Umeko, try to land a hit on me." Sesshoumaru ordered. The three potential genin did as they were told.

Inuki started with wild punches and sweeping kicks, which Keitaro had significant difficulty keeping up with. Inuki wasn't just a persistant attacker – he was fast, too.

As Inuki used his youki to add longer claws to his fingertips, Keitaro used his youki to speed up his reaction time. It just wouldn't do to get hit by one of those jabs.

Meanwhile, Umeko was throwing everything she had at the demon lord, from the weeping mushroom trick to the size-changing top. None of it fazed Sesshoumaru, and that scared her.

"Concentrate on putting more youki into each attack. That will increase the effectiveness." Sesshoumaru said in an even tone, even as he batted away another of her statue tricks. This wouldn't be fair to Umeko if he kept beating away her attacks too easily.

"H-hai, Sesshoumaru-sensei!" Umeko responded. She held her next attack, a stone statue, longer before releasing the glowing toy. It quickly grew to four times the size of its normal full-size form and smashed down into the ground, right where Sesshoumaru had been standing.

"Very good, Umeko." Sesshoumaru said from a few feet to Umeko's left. "Keep going while I see to the others."

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sensei!" Umeko called. Her expanding top was already in hand.

Seshoumaru looked back at the two boys. Keitaro was a horrible fighter with more than a few flaws. Inuki was in similar shape, but was obviously much better than Sesshoumaru's second son.

"Inuki, move your leading foot a little farther forward. It will help with your reach." Sesshoumaru instructed. "Keitaro, don't only use straight-on strikes. Hook punches and roundhouse kicks are better for your arsenal than just flailing about."

Even with such little instruction, both boys drastically improved. Inuki didn't waste his time on haymaker punches, and Keitaro used attacks with a little more damage potential than a flung rock.

"Sesshoumaru-sensei, will we pass?" Umeko asked.

The demon lord gave her an even look. Then the corners of his mouth quirked up in a smirk. "Yes."

* * *

At approximately two P.M., Shippou finished his meeting with the Sandaime Hokage. About three seconds later, Arashi came in to relieve his predecessor. _That's good_, Shippou thought. _An old man shouldn't have to do so much when it's supposed to be his successor's job today_. 

After a time, in which Sarutobi had left the building, the senseis of Teams One throught Five had strolled in, announcing that their teams had fails so abysmally that they should be held back two years rather than one. Yuuhi Kurenai had come striding into the office, announncing that Team Eight had passed the genin exam. Then Team Six's sensei Higurashi Kagome announced that Team Six had passed. Sarutobi Asuma bounced into the office while the two kunoichi senseis were leaving, practically singing that his team had become true genin. Three minutes after Asuma had gone, Team Nine's Inutaisho Sesshoumaru had casually walked into the room, muttered something about the office needing a new interior designer, then told the Hokage that Team Nine was a good team.

After that, Shippou and Arashi were left in silence for about three hours. At five o'clock, Kakashi had stumbled into the building with a half-happy, half-dazed look on his face and said that he'd finally gotten a genin team.

If it weren't for the fact that he was Hokage, everyone in the room was fairly certain that Arashi would have been doing a victory dance on his desk.

Kakashi had been dismissed after Arashi wished him luck with such a stubborn team. Kakashi had nodded and walked out. That left Shippou and Arashi in the Hokage's office, both silent.

"So," Shippou said. "Do you have tomorrow off?"

Arashi looked at him, before smirking faintly. "Yeah. I decided to dump all this stuff off on Sarutobi-sama."

Shippou smiled at that. "That's good. Naruto would want to see you."

That wiped the smirk off the Yondaime's face. "Naruto…He thinks he's an orphan, doesn't he?"

"Arashi-sama, only Kakashi-kun and I know that he is your son. As for your question…" Shippou shook his head. "I think that with Kakashi-kun and Iruka-kun to look after him, 'orphan' is just a word to Naruto. But still, he doesn't need any more father-figures. What Naruto needs is a real father."

"A real father…"

"Yeah…"

* * *

A/N: Souten's not going on this next mission – even though she wants to track down Zabuza amd Haku, she's overkill with Kouryuu, and she'd never let them live. She's an oinin after all. Either Sesshoumaru or Kagome would be better – Kagome can heal while Sesshoumaru can revive the dead. All the same, I think that only Kagome would have the heart to try and make the two mist-nin see the light. We'll see where this goes. 


	4. Wave Country, Here We Come!

Chapter Four: Nami no Kuni – Wave Country, Here We Come!

A/N: Go Kagome! (starts humming _Inuyasha_ battle music)

Plot points to be considered: Hoshioni (a demon who appeared in the filler episodes) and Sesshoumaru's left arm. Also, any and all Inuyasha characters do have a point to this story. Even Myouga does, hard as that may be to believe.

_After passing the genin exam, all fifteen new genin are doing well. All of them are starting to fill the gaps in their training. And finally, all of the rookies are getting a bit bored of D-ranked missions._

_Well, the world isn't completely round, so nothing is perfect._

…

_The author, if you haven't noticed, is running out of things to say.

* * *

_

Kagome was a jounin sensei to Team Six. She knew her students better than any other sensei could claim at this stage in training, and had a good grasp on their flaws. She went on missions like any other ninja, usually with Shippou and Inuyasha. All in all, Kagome was a pretty normal ninja, for a jounin.

But then there were those little quirks that made her even stranger than Kakashi with his perverted nature and Sharingan eye. For a start, she wasn't human. She was a hanyou and over five hundred years old. Secondly, since she had had spiritual powers as a human, she also had access to them when she wasn't a hanyou, namely in the day. Thirdly, she had raised a demon. That took some guts, even if the said youkai was only Shippou. Finally, Kagome had once been involved in the destruction of possibly the most powerful half-demon the world had ever known.

'Possibly' was her word of choice since Naraku _had_ fallen to Inuyasha in battle. Also, Inuyasha had grown both stronger and more cunning as the years went on.

At present, the black-haired kunoichi was walking towards the Hokage's office. The reason was simple – she'd seen Kakashi's team going that way with determined looks on their faces. And when Kakashi had appeared behind them about two seconds later (obviously forgetting that he was _supposed_ to be chronically tardy), her curiosity had been permanently aroused.

Besides which, she didn't have anything to do today other than go to the market, and the villagers had quickly earned her contempt. Uzumaki Naruto had grown up just as Inuyasha had, thanks to those villagers.

Kagome bowed to the ANBU outside the tower. While she didn't really hold much respect for any of them, they did do their best to protect the Hokage. Anyway, Souten was in a branch of ANBU called the Oinin or Hunter Ninja, and she had given Kagome a much more precise image of the guards than what she was used to. Who would have thought that so many ANBU gave up and died after service? _They are tormented souls_, Kagome had realized sadly, _and they give up their lives so freely for Konoha_.

She pushed the doors open. Arashi wouldn't be there – some nut in Suna had been harassing the Kazekage, and while it normally fell to Suna's ANBU to take care of such matters, if the said nut was Orochimaru, then it was the job of the only comparable ninja to take care of it. In other words, the Yondaime Hokage's day off had been screwed over by a certain snake summoner.

Sometimes, Orochimaru reminded Kagome of a certain other manipulative person, whose name was Naraku.

Rather than seeing the Hokage being covered in an unholy amount of paperwork, she strolled into the office and was greeted with the sight of Kakashi's team, the loudmouthed blonde genin of the lot banging his fists on Sarutobi's desk.

"…Kakashi-kun?" Kagome asked. The gray-haired jounin looked at her. In his hand, the woman noted disgustedly, was that perverted _Icha Icha Paradise_ book. Sometimes, it seemed as if that book had been written by a descendant of Miroku – the forg sannin was perverted enough… "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you what's going on!" yelled Naruto. As she winced, Kagome was still profoundly thankful that she wasn't a hanyou at the moment. "We've been doing D-ranked missions for weeks! I think we deserved a C-rank mission by now, at least!"

Once Kagome had gotten her outer ear back on the outside of her head, she decided to take the risk of answering. "Naruto, I haven't let my team on C-ranked missions either. Without at least two experienced ninjas on a C-ranked mission, everything can become chaotic fairly quickly. And when I say 'experienced', I mean someone who's been a genin for at least six months."

Then she added, "What's the proposed mission anyway, Sandaime-sama?"

The old man took the pipe out of his mouth, smoke still drifting from the larger end. The Sandaime sighed before sifting through his papers again. "There's only one C-ranked mission left, and it's a bodyguard mission to Wave Country. Genin taking this mission would be required to escort a master bridge-builder to his home, and guard him until the bridge is completed."

"Okay…Wait a second. Did you say Wave Country?" Kagome asked, looking pensieve.

"Yes," the Hokage answered.

"Souten-chan has been tracking several different ninja. One of which is Orochimaru, whom I'm positive you're familiar with." Kakashi and Sarutobi shuddered. Kagome went on, "According to her, a missing-nin from Kirigakure was spotted heading in the direction of Wave Country, but she lost him in the mist. Now, Kirigakure has a long list of missing-nin, but only two are even worth noting." She let that sink in.

"The first is Hoshigaki Kisame, a member of the criminal organization Akatsuki. The second is Momochi Zabuza. Both are also members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, but Souten-chan has confirmed the man she saw to be Zabuza, a man on-par with all but the most elite of Konoha jounin." Kagome continued. She knew that Kakashi was one of those elite jounin, but jounin were generally all of the same skill level. Obvious exceptions to that rule included herself and most of her close friends. "Therefore, missions that take genin teams in that direction aren't recommended."

It wasn't until her speech was over hat she'd realized how much she'd sounded like Souten after a mission had gone sour. She groaned inwardly, noting that she'd considerably dampened Naruto's spirits.

"But if it's all right, Sandaime Hokage-sama, I could go with Team Seven to make security a bit tighter." If there was anything in the world that could have made the hyperactive blonde ninja any happier, it hadn't been discovered.

As Naruto did his victory dance in the background, Sarutobi gestured for Kakashi and Kagome to listen to what he had to say.

"Listen well, both of you. Don't engage enemies unless you're forced to. That should save everyone some trauma."

Both jounin nodded sharply and bowed.

Kagome sighed inwardly. At least neither Team Six nor Team Nine had any practices for a week, as Sesshoumaru had left the village without any notice (again). They had made it a habit that the youkai teams would work together, but without either of the teams' senseis present, the meetings had been put on hiatus.

Kagome and Kakashi left the office without another word.

* * *

"I hate you." Sasuke snarled at her. Kagome just smiled at that. It wasn't her fault, really. Sasuke and Naruto had started to get in a fight, and while Tazuna restrained Naruto (with Sakura's help), Kagome had knocked Sasuke flat onto his stomach and sat on his back. 

"You know I'm not moving until you calm down." Kagome said lightly. Sakura, no longer preoccupied by chastising Naruto for 'picking fights with Sasuke', was currently yelling at her for annoying the Uchiha boy.

Kagome gave the pink-haired girl a frigid look in response. Sakura cringed. Kagome had learned how to radiate killing intent from Sesshoumaru years ago. "Whether or not I am your sensei is not of importance. Haruno-san, you will not address a jounin as you have been." Kagome's glare softened. "But feel free to yell at Kakashi."

"I heard that," muttered the masked jounin from up in a tree. In truth, the foursome had been waiting outside of Konoha's walls for almost ten minutes for the infamous Copy Nin to show his face (not literally, since Kakashi never did so). It was aggravating, since their employer Tazuna the bridge-builder wouldn't stop calling Kagome a 'little girl', or calling Naruto a 'brat'. And Kakashi was living up to his reputation.

"Get down here." Kagome snapped, more than a litle irked at having to stay in such a crabby old man's presence for so long. It wasn't that Tazuna complained about his bad back, it was that he whined about how they were behind schedule. Therefore, it was Kakashi's fault.

"Well," Kakashi started as he landed, right in the targeting crosshairs of several people's glares. "Tally ho!" Everyone else face-faulted, sighing. Some things would never change.

If Tazuna had shut up and stopped whining about his bodyguards (which included two very dangerous kunoichi), Kagome would have almost called the first hour of the trip pleasant. Of course, with Sasuke and Naruto on the same team, she was starting to understand why Kakashi always had that perverted book in hand during his team's practices. Add Sakura in the mix and it would drive the most patient jounin utterly insane.

Fortunately for Kakashi, he wasn't patient. Rather, he simply told them what to do, then ignored them.

Kagome, on the other hand, was extremely patient thanks to have raised three children out of diapers. And that patience was wearing _very_ thin.

Walking as they had been for almost two hours, Kagome was making a point to pay attention to their surroundings. Even if she had skipped the genin and chuunin ranks, she was still a jounin, and that required being observant.

Things needing to be noted included, but were not limited to, puddles of water on the ground. They needed to be noted because neither Konoha nor the surrounding areas had gotten any rain in weeks. It was also sunny out.

Kagome met Kakashi's eye as they came upon a particularly large puddle, about three feet in diameter. He nodded at her. So, Kakashi had noticed too. Slightly comforted that she wasn't just imagining things, she began her favorite daily ritual.

Namely, making sure that her scarlet bow was in good working order. It was a favorite of hers, since she had recently discovered that channeling her powers through the bow and beating someone with it was almost as good as shooting a target with an arrow. In either case, it was if the victim had been stabbed or slashed with a sword. But still, she trusted her archery more than her swordsmanship, and a busted bowstring on a mission could mean disaster for any teammates she was with.

"Is that the bow that landed you in other villages' Bingo Books?" Kakashi asked. The two of them were walking near the back to prevent any attacks from behind. Naturally, Naruto and Sasuke competed for the leading spot, even though they had no idea where the group was going.

"Yes. I've had it for years. But my first bow was stolen from some dead bandits. I guess after needing to grab a new one every time I was in trouble, I just started carrying around Kaede's old bow." Kagome said. "Well, I almost got rid of it when she said that Kikyou had designed the thing."

"Kikyou…I think I heard something about a powerful priestess who was named that, but it was a long time ago." Kakashi said thoughtfully.

"Kikyou was the one who modernized the bow designs that archers use today. She was a master archer, so it was no wonder." Kagome lied easily. If anyone found out about her hanyou nature or her time-jumping experience, it could be bad. So all of the remaining participants from the final battle with Naraku had decided on a single lie to use. Well, with the exception of Shippou, since he had alreadly revealed his demonic nature to about four shinobi, the Yondaime Hokage, and possibly the Sandaime as well. "But still, a while ago we found out that I was her reincarnation, so…yeah. I still don't like to be reminded of how she was killed at eighteen."

Kakashi gave her one of his various one-eyed stares. This one seemed to read 'I don't believe a word you're saying'.

Kagome was about to growl at the man when she felt a very unpleasant tickle in the corners of her sensing range, which was about fifty feet. She was positive that Kakashi's range was larger, as the man had stopped walking.

"Eh, Kakashi-sensei, what's up?" asked Naruto. Somehow, Kagome was slightly comforted that the genin didn't have the training to detect the bloodlust emanating from just ahead of the group.

From the amount of chakra, they had to be at least chuunin level, which gave her pause. What would chuunin from any village be doing trying to attack a genin team, especially one accompanied by a pair of jounin? Well, if she knew anything about Kakashi, he'd be searching for the answers, too.

Without (much) warning, as the six travelers passed a particularly thick-wooded part of the trail, chains flew out of the surrounding foliage. They both wrapped around Kakashi. And, without the enemy knowing that Kakashi had quickly performed Kawarimi no Jutsu, they pulled together, shredding the jounin's replacement.

Kagome took this all rather calmly, at least until Sakura started screaming. Without turning to see if Kakashi's replacement had been sliced into tinder, she loaded her bow and let two arrows go. They both missed, but they diverted the enemy ninjas' attention from the genin and Tazuna.

As the two mist-nins (as Kagome could now see their hitai-ate) advanced on her, she was mildly surprised to see Sasuke come between them and their target. Using accuracy that she was certain a genin shouldn't possess, he flung a shuriken at the mist-nins' shared chain. It connected with a single link with enough force to pin the weapon to a tree.

Kagome drew another arrow and let it fly. It speared the shuriken right through the hole used to hold it, thus making the chain nearly impossible to free.

The ninjas dropped the chain and pulled out clawed gloves that were obviously poisoned. The tips were oily black. As the liquid coating the daggers hit the grass, it hissed and the patch of grass died. All within two seconds.

The ex-priestess didn't wait this time. She reached into her kunai pouch and flung one at a ninja, diverting his course. Well, now was as good a time as any…

As the second nin came in for an attack, Kagome took a step to increase power and smashed her elbow into his nose. She followed up by taking another step and giving his forehead a good beating with her other fist. He flew out of sight, probably to where Kakashi could get him without moving much.

The first nin was more cautious now, trying to keep out or her reach. God only knew what would happen if he got too close. Her smile wasn't promising pleasant things, either.

However, he was concentrating too much on the kunoichi in front of him to notice the gray-haired ninja Shunshin no Jutsu-ing up behind him. The selfsame ninja that he and his partner had thought to be dead. Kakashi had the other nin, the one Kagome had struck, in a half-Nelson.

In about a fraction of a second, the scared mist-nin had joined his comrade.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried, astonished.

Naruto automatically looked over to where he thought his sensei's bloody remains should have been. All he saw were sticks that used to be part of the same log. "He used Kawarimi no Jutsu!"

Sasuke just smirked. Kagome was a little reassured; any other reaction from the Uchiha heir would have really creeped her out.

"Well, I'd say that these two are chuunin from Kirigakure." Kakashi began. He had taken his genin's stunned status and used that time to tie up the mist-nins.

The two nin were wearing oxygen masks, which covered the entire lower halves of their faces. Both wore black, and were currently tied by their own chains.

One of them spoke up. "How did you know who we were?"

Kagome gave them a flat look, one that said 'I can't believe stupid ninjas like you are still exist'. "Okay…One, you're both wearing hitai-ate from Kiri. That's obvious. Second, you were unable to predict a Kawarimi no Jutsu. That would put you at something lower than jounin, and genin usually do D-ranked missions _in_side their own village. Three, you got your butts handed to you by a genin." It was an offhanded compliment to Sasuke on her part, but she didn't think that anyone would mind.

Kagome would be very sorry to learn just how many times a person can be wrong. Naruto had been caught by one of those claws when she wasn't looking, and she felt guilty. He could die of the poison's effects. On the other hand, Naruto yanked out an overlarge kunai and stabbed into the back of his hand, drawing the poison out.

"I swear on this wound an oath of pain. I will never back down again, ever!" Naruto snarled, glaring into the sun. Kagome just stared at the boy while Kakashi mentioned that the wound was very deep now and Sakura started screaming at Naruto.

Naruto was very determined. The world would just have to see how far that would take him.

"Oi, Naruto-kun." The boy with fox whisker markings looked up. Kagome took his hand in one of hers. To her expert eye, the wound was already well on its way to not even leaving a scar. It must have been the youki that the boy received from Shippou taking hold. She pulled a roll of bandages out of her backpack and carefully wrapped his hand. "Just don't go doing any left-handed handsprings and you'll be fine."

Naruto smiled back at her, while Kagome wondered if Inuyasha could have been like this if she had met him a little sooner.

* * *

As the light failed, the six companions came to a halt for the night. It wasn't until everyone gathered about the fire (initiated by Sasuke) that Kagome noticed everyone was staring at her. It wasn't terribly unpleasant, but the three genin looked at her as if she'd grown another head. Well, considering some of the enemies she'd landed six feet under, that might not have been the best example. 

"What?" she asked, confused. Her ears had just changed position, but no one could tell between her hairstyle and bandana. So that couldn't have been the reason. No one spoke up, not even Naruto. Until Kakashi coughed, that is.

"Kagome, how is it that you, someone who is obviously a Tokubetsu Jounin who sticks exclusively to archery, know that type of taijutsu?" Kakashi asked. Well, she had to give him credit. He was being unusually polite. Even if he forgot the -san that was usually attached to the end of her name.

The former priestess sat down on a nearby log. As she pulled a cup of instant ramen from her yellow pack, she said, "A close friend of mine was a hand-to-hand fighter. If she didn't use the Hiraikotsu, my arrows could keep her at bay. But when she got too close, I was doomed. She _always_ won when we sparred. So, to keep my skills balanced, she suggested that she teach me a taijiya's combat style."

"So, your style isn't of any existing village, but of one person?" Sasuke asked. His dark eyes showed an emotion that Kagome wasn't sure the boy should've had access to – curiosity.

Kagome shook her head. "Sango was originally from a village of taijiya, but a little before the bijuu appeared, her home was destroyed."

There was a chorus of apologetic murmurs. Kagome shook her head at that. "Don't worry about it. So, anyway, what does everyone want for dinner?"

"Ramen!" At that, everyone except Naruto groaned. Well, with the exception of Kakashi.

Kagome chuckled warmly. Naruto was so much like Inuyasha. Same ramen fixation, same screwed-up childhood, same determination to reach their goals despite the odds against them…

In any case, Kagome started pulling several more ramen cups from her pack. After she and Inuyasha had been sent on missions together, her husband had often been hungry for the salty noodles. So she'd developed a habit of bringing at least a half-dozen cups whenever on-duty.

Grinning crazily, Naruto dug into the noodles as soon as they were proclaimed done. Instead of even slurping his food, the blonde seemed to _inhale_ it. Kakashi just looked boredly at his traveling companions.

Then Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura had somehow managed to get in a fight over nothing. Kakashi tried (in vain) to calm the trio while Tazuna took another swig of his alcohol.

In other words, it was business as usual.

Sighing, Kagome wondered how she'd been saddled with the job of babysitting a bunch of messed-up ninjas and a crabby old man.

* * *

Somewhere in Wave Country, a dog demon lord was having a very bad day. It wasn't that someone was trying to kill him or anything similar. It wasn't that he had gotten a letter from Rin telling him that his sons had died. While it did have to do with Konoha, it wasn't about his direct family. 

Actually, it was about his sister-in-law, that hanyou girl Kagome.

Apparently, she'd been sent on a mission. That left a grand total of nine youkai-blooded children (six genin, three too young to be in the Academy) to be left with only four youkai-blooded adults – Inuyasha, Shippou, Souten, and Rin. But the first three could be sent on missions at any point in time, which left a noncombatant to handle the all of the youngsters.

The aftermath of _that_ could be horrific.

Sesshoumaru wasn't very easy to worry. In the past, he'd only ever worried about the safety of his then-human charge, Rin. Now he had an extended family to worry about. The Kagome girl was significantly weaker than Sesshoumaru or Inuyasha, so she would be an obvious target if one intended to hurt his younger brother.

According to the letters Souten and Rin had sent to him, the mission was a bodyguard assignment to Wave Country, where Sesshoumaru was at present. Kagome had gone with Team Seven and the client (Tazuna, a master bridge-builder) because of a sighting of a missing-nin from Kirigakure. Zabuza of the Mist was acting up again, and Kagome had volunteered to go when the threat became apparent.

Then Inuyasha sent an angry note by one of his summoned eagles. It basically said, "_If you don't protect Kagome, I'll send your ass to Hell for good, and no Tensaiga's gonna stop me._" Only in a few more words than that. Sesshoumaru was mildly surprised that his brother had found so many ways to phrase a death threat.

"…Heh," Sesshoumaru said after a while. He let the letters drop from his hand, to the ground. The land was wet and cold, thanks to a recent rain. The surrounding forest was a welcome sight to one who grew up in such a wilderness. "So, Inuyasha…am I to protect another member of the 'pack'? You place much confidence in me, little brother. You had better pray that your trust was not for nothing."

And the white-haired man vanished, leaving quite a few observing bandits wondering just who they had planned on robbing.

* * *

"Is this normal?" Kagome asked Kakashi, as they and their companions continued on their journey to Wave Country. Naruto was currently flinging kunai at every movement he noticed in the bushes. While it was nice to see the blonde displaying such caution, he was just wasting kunai. 

Kakashi shook his head as Sakura marched up and gave Naruto's head a good whacking. His genin really needed to work on teamwork…

"But Sakura-chan, there's someone following us!" At that, Kakashi made a note to investigate their surroundings a bit more thoroughly. Beside him, Kagome stiffened almost impeceptively. So, she felt the murderous intent too.

Glaring, Naruto threw Sakura off him and flung a kunai at yet another movement in the bushes. There was a solid-sounding thunk, so Kakashi went to investigate.

"A rabbit," the white-haired jounin muttered. It was a white snow rabbit, which really shouldn't have been white at this time of year – summer. Snow rabbits turned brown after winter ended.

Kagome glanced at the rabbit (which seemed to have fainted after nearly being skewered by Naruto's kunai) before returning to scanning the area. Kakashi knew what was going through her head. If a snow rabbit were white in summer, then it must have been kept inside where there is little light. And why would someone release a rabbit right in front of them to rattle the bushes, unless…?

"Duck!" Kagome cried, grabbing Sakura and Naruto by their collars, yanking them to the ground. Kakashi did the same to Tazuna and Sasuke. Sasuke was possibly the most competent of the three non-jounin ninjas, but he was still only a genin. Genin _did_ get themselves killed on missions, like any other ninja.

It was a good thing that the six companions had done as Kagome ordered. An instant after they'd hit the ground, a massive silver shape streaked out of the forest, swerving in the air like a thrown boomerang.

The sword (for they could now see what it was) smashed the bladed end of itself into the side of a particularly old tree. There was a blur of gray, and a man was using the sword's blade as a platform.

He didn't have a shirt, but wore mottled cloth armguards, gray pants, a series of black leather straps that encircled his neck, bandages that covered his lower face much like Kakashi's did, and a hitai-ate from Kirigakure.

"You know Kakashi, I'm really sorry I was right, back in the Hokage's office." Kagome said under her breath. She took her bow from its place on her back, getting ready to loose an arrow.

"…Get ready." Kakashi replied, not really processing her statement. All that mattered was that Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist, was in his sights and thus endangering his allies.

"Well, well. The infamous Copy Nin Kakashi." Zabuza sneered, watching Kakashi closely. His gaze shifted to Kagome, "And a kunoichi tagalong. Interesting."

"I am no tagalong." Kagome said in a hard voice, eyes growing as cold as Sasuke's. She got ready to fire. "I am at the same level as you for a reason, Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist."

"So, you know my name, girl, but I'd like to know the name of the person I'm about to kill." Zabuza taunted, eyes curved in an unholy replication of Kakashi's own expression.

"Higurashi Kagome, and don't you forget it!" she snarled back.

Kakashi, sensing a confrontation, pulled up his slanting hitai-ate. The movement revealed a long, vertical scar along his left eye. The scarred eye snapped open, revealing a red eye with three comma-like marks circling around the pupil. A single, thin line connected every one of the marks, called 'tomoe'.

"Sharingan…Is that where you got that name, Kakashi-kun?" Kagome asked. She had lowered her bow, and was staring at Kakashi's eye.

Kakashi gave a curt nod before returning to the battle at hand. Something told him that it was going to be a tough one.

A/N: Thanks to raiden no onna and Crystal Inferno for being my first reviewers. Domo arigatou, minna-san!

And thanks for everyone who stumbled on this story, even if you didn't review.

...Have you noticed that Kagome's perspective is the only one where people don't cuss? I've never heard her swear, so I decided to leave that stuff out. But when things get heated, I find that very difficult.

Later,

Sheby


	5. A Delicate Affair

Chapter Five: A Delicate Affair

A/N: …I wish I was at the Chuunin Exam already…

Inuyasha's ultimate summon is called Washimata, a friggin' _huge_ black eagle. Washimata's taloned feet, his eyes, his beak, and his wing tips are all gold-colored. He's got feathers that can rain down on the opponent like knives. Really big knives. Like so big they make the Kusanagi (Orochimaru's sword) look like a toothpick.

And Kagome, as a reincarnated priestess, is going to get a few of the abilities that priestesses from other cultures do. In other words, she can have visions like the Greek oracles, give blessings (nearly every culture), etc.

The story thus far: _Naruto has passed his genin exam, also succeeding at locking up the traitor Mizuki. After three weeks of D-ranked missions, Team Seven go to the Hokage's office to request a C-ranked one. At the same time, Higurashi Kagome is heading to the Hokage's office to discuss something._

_Learning of the genins' new mission, Kagome volunteers to go along despite warnings of nukenin in the area. The mission has recently been upgraded from C to A-ranked, with the arrival of hostile Kirigakure ninjas._

_A letter was received by the daiyoukai Sesshoumaru. As requested by Inuyasha, he is journeying to the border of Fire and Wave to intercept the traveling party._

_But with Momochi Zabuza already confronting the group, will they survive? _

…

_Well, yes, otherwise this'd be a pretty short story.

* * *

_

"Kakashi, you idiot…" Kagome muttered under her breath. The other jounin had somehow managed to seriously misjudge Zabuza's prowess with Suiton jutsus, get himself half-exhausted thanks to that damn Sharingan, and get himself caught in a Suiro no Jutsu (Water Prison Technique). And then Zabuza had summoned up a mizu bunshin to take out the rest of the Konoha ninjas and Tazuna.

And there was _still_ one presence she could sense that was unaccounted for. Just who the heck was that other person that she couldn't see?

Growling, Kagome yanked an arrow from her quiver and strung it. Taking aim at an angle so that if the arrow went through, it would come at Zabuza, Kagome fired. By charging most (if not all) of her arrow shots with her holy powers, she was practically guaranteed to kill her chosen target.

With the sudden impact of her arrow, the clone was reduced to a shower of lake water. The arrow kept flying, a bluish aura surrounding it.

And Zabuza dodged it by ducking. Shoot.

Kagome sighed, but mentally patted herself on the back for the destruction of the mizu bunshin. She doubted that the genin would be able to deal with a threat like that.

She felt Zabuza's killer intent wash over her. It was a mere shadow of what Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were capable of, so she didn't flinch.

"Mere brats like you have no right to be called _ninja_," drawled a newly-summoned mizu bunshin of Zabuza. "Only when you've killed so many that your mere name is feared, and you've made it into my bingo book, do you have the right to become ninja."

As Kakashi's team began to feel the full effect of Zabuza's chilling aura, Kagome watched the mist-nin with a flat gaze. "Is that how you will react against Itachi-teme, Sasuke?" she asked the dark-haired boy.

Sasuke was shocked out of his stupor, and he glared at her. "What the hell do you know? I'm going to get stronger, and I'm going to kill him."

"Itachi-teme is much stronger than Zabuza, and much better informed on Konoha ninja's weaknesses." Kagome said coolly. She had been there, tracking the Sharingan brat, when the Uchiha Massacre had occurred. "If you can't stand up to a horror film reject, how can you expect to survive an encounter with Itachi?"

Sasuke's eyes, if possible, darkened. "I won't back down."

Kagome nodded. "Good."

Naruto made a charge to retrieve his hitai-ate from Zabuza, snarling something about being the next Hokage (Kagome personally doubted that, but she let the kid have his bubble unbursted). He was knocked back, but managed to retrieve his possession.

"Sasuke, Kagome-sensei, Sakura-chan," said Naruto. "Let's take this freak out." Everyone else nodded. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Two dozen more Narutos popped into existence, each an exact copy of the original.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)!" Sasuke inhaled deeply before blowing a great plume of fie out of his mouth. Vaguely, Kagome wondered if they were trying to kill their teacher along with Zabuza.

Sakura whipped out four kunai and got ready to throw.

"Guide your attacks along my arrow's path!" she shouted. Kagome drew an arrow, charged it with her holy powers, and took aim at Zabuza's torso. She let it loose. "Hit the mark!" The arrow's path was true and so was Sasuke's fireball's. Sakura's kunai followed closely, them being followed by all of Naruto's bunshin.

At the very least, the barrage of various attacks would force Zabuza to dodge or be killed. Kagome used her arrow as a guide because, frankly, she was pretty certain that projectile attacks from the genin could go badly awry and kill Kakashi.

Zabuza quickly created four mizu bunshin, the first of which absorbed the hit from Sakura's kunai. The next was destroyed by Sasuke's fireball. After that, Naruto's bunshin got into a fistfight with the third and fourth water clones, winning because of sheer numbers. Kagome's arrow still flew on its course, right at the mist-nin's heart.

And the jerk dodged it by ducking. Again.

Kagome muttered something nasty under her breath about idiots and freaks when a massive shuriken whirled past. It sailed through the air on a perfect throw, meaning the weapon was Sasuke's.

It was also on target to cleave the Demon of the Hidden Mist in two, and the man caught it. But as a second shuriken (Kage Shuriken no Jutsu) whirled towards the mist-nin, Kagome realized that Zabuza would once again be forced to dodge or be shredded.

He dodged by jumping over the windmill shuriken.

As the second shuriken flew out onto the lake, it exploded into smoke. And lo, out of the smoke appeared Naruto, who had Henge'd into the second shuriken.

"Sugoi!" Kagome muttered, in awe of the so-called loser's plan. He'd transformed into a windmill shuriken while everyone was distracted, and then Sasuke had performed Kage Shuriken no Jutsu to fool Zabuza.

"Take this!" Naruto cried, flinging a kunai at the middle of Zabuza's back.

Everyone besides Naruto and Sasuke was stunned by the turn of events. Zabuza was forced to evade the attack by moving away from the Suiro no Jutsu. As his arm left the sphere, it shattered and Kakashi was freed.

"We'll leave the rest to you, Kakashi-kun." Kagome said to the other jounin. He didn't even spare her a glance, but she knew he'd gotten the message.

As she settled down to watch the fight on the lake, which would likely consist of various interesting Suiton jutsu, Kagome felt a sharp pain behind her eyes. Eyes closed, she brought a gloved hand over her face, wondering where the pain had come from.

And then she saw something.

Images that clashed so violently, Kagome thought she was going mad.

The Forest of Death. A chalk-faced man with gold eyes and black hair. A giant greenish snake with the man on its head. The robe of the Kazekage. The Sandaime and Yondaime, battling with the pale man. A body. A Suna jounin speaking with a white-haired Konoha genin. A dead Konoha jounin. The Shukaku's jinchuuriki. A horrible, tainted curse seal. The second level affecting Sasuke. Sasuke using Chidori on Naruto, nearly killing him. A massive war between Oto and Konoha, killing thousands. The bodies of Kagome's Konoha friends. The pale man standing there, laughing maliciously. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, working together to kill him. The death of the Hidden Villages.

And mercifully, it ended.

Kagome's hand fell away and her eyes were wide. _What…? Was that a glimpse of what is yet to come?_

"Kagome-sensei, are you all right?" asked Naruto's voice. The battle against Zabuza had ended, and Kagome was lying on the ground. The mist was clearing, revealing a bright and sunny day.

"I'm fine. What happened to me, Naruto-kun?" she asked softly, sitting up. That was a bad idea. Her world spun.

"You just kind of…well, you put a hand over your eyes and then fell down." Naruto said, still wearing a look of concern. "You were twitching and didn't try to get up for almost a minute."

"Oh," was all Kagome could say. Then her mind switched to more important topics. "What happened to Kakashi?"

Sakura answered this time, pointing to where Sasuke was trying to lift the unconscious jounin. Apparently, Kakashi had overused that stupid eye of his. Blasted Sharingan.

Sighing, Kagome got to her feet and walked over to Sasuke. "I'll carry him."

Sasuke just gave her a cool look and dropped the jounin in her arms. Sighing again (she seemed to do that a lot, particularly around Team Seven), she pulled Kakashi's hitai-ate back down over his left eye.

Then she Henge'd into a bearlike brown dog, grabbed Kakashi by the back of his vest, and (with some clever manuevering) managed to get the jounin on her back.

"_When he wakes up, someone tell him that he's an idiot for overusing his chakra. This's got to be the sixth time since I've known him…_" Kagome grumbled the last bit to herself. She looked at Tazuna expectantly. "_Let's get going._"

* * *

Somewhere in the sunny but poor Wave Country, a certain demon lord was wandering the streets.

Sesshoumaru had seen poverity. For a while after his mother had died, he'd even lived it to a degree. No home, little water, less food…it was a nasty place to be.

But he wasn't in Wave country to admire the scenery. He had a mission, and he was going to fufill it. Granted, his mission was basically a request from his younger brother to keep Kagome safe, but Sesshoumaru rarely was asked favors by Inuyasha, so he would honor the hanyou's wishes. As if he, Sesshoumaru, would fail such an important mission.

Remembering that the mission was to guard a bridge-builder, Sesshoumaru asked a man on the street the direction to Tazuna's bridge. The man pointed him in the right direction, and soon Sesshoumaru was in sight of the construction sight.

He noted that there were very few workers before settling down on a nearby rooftop.

"All I need to do now is wait."

* * *

At Tazuna's house, Kagome was helping Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami, with making dinner. Kakashi's genin were working on a tree-climbing exercise today, and Kagome had no need to participate. But when the genin got back, they'd be eating like crazy, trying to replenish their chakra.

Kagome took out her mental planner of the week. Kakashi had been unconscious for a day and a night. Then he'd gotten up and started moving with crutches. If he kept up this rate of recovery, he'd be ready to fight again in less than a week. And if Kagome didn't get any more visions, she'd be able to go one-on-one with Zabuza as well.

"Kagome-san, where did you learn to cook so many things?" Tsunami asked, jarring her out of her thoughts.

Kagome gave a small smile. "I'm a mother of three, believe it or not."

Tsunami raised an eyebrow at that, looking at Kagome's thin waistline. "I don't believe it."

Kagome chuckled, most of the tension from earlier that week being dissolved. "After each child, I still had to go out on missions. If I didn't work off the laziness, I would've died a while ago."

The two mothers shared a mutual laugh at that. Kagome and Tsunami had been introduced rather suddenly. When Tazuna and his bodyguards had finally made it to his home, Kagome had still been in the form of a dog. When Kakashi had been moved off of her back and onto a futon, she'd released her Henge with a burst of smoke, which had scared the heck out of Tsunami. But it all worked out in the end.

Tsunami was a smart woman, if unversed in the shinobi way. Kagome told her about Souten, the deadly female oinin who killed traitors for a living, and about Rin, who wasn't a fighter, but was strong enough to defend herself if necessary.

Souten was headstrong and independent. She fought for what she loved: her family and close friends. While she decided her targets on her own, she often enlisted the help of Konoha ANBU to trap her prey. Tsunami had said something about seeing if Souten could teach her how to fight.

Rin was kind, motherly, and everything a housewife should be. She had a husband who was often gone someplace, but she loved him. She raised three children basically by herself, and had each of them taught to fight, if in a somewhat unconventional manner.

As for Kagome, she described herself as a teacher (she _was_ Team Six's jounin sensei). She taught Inuki how to manipulate chakra and youki where her husband's expertise failed, and was currently showing Haru (the middle child, a five-year-old boy) how to hold kunai in a way that wouldn't give the user cuts. And she was teaching her daughter, Amaya, what a shinobi was.

In return, Tsunami told Kagome about Wave Country, and how it had been declining since Gatou's arrival. She spoke of her first husband, of how he'd died when Inari was just a baby. Of how a man named Kaiza had helped give the village hope, had given _Inari_ hope. But when Gatou had executed him, everything had gone even further downhill.

And Kagome had nodded, understanding perfectly. While running around in the Feudal Era with her friends, she had seen many similar situations.

"So, Gatou's a corrupt business tycoon who's about four feet tall, about forty-some years old, but is incredibly rich." Kagome summarized. At Tsunami's surprised look, since she'd not told Kagome everything about Gatou, Kagome said, "Tazuna was telling us about that a while ago. Gatou had hired four ninjas from Kirigakure to kill Tazuna. But while we beat two, there are still the other two running around."

Tsunami nodded thoughtfully. She had her hands in the sink, and was washing a load of dishes.

"Tsunami-san, when Kakashi takes his team out to the bridge, I will be going, too. On that day, I think you should find a place to hide. Take Inari with you, so Gatou will have no hostages." Kagome said, chopping up a daikon radish. "I'd rather that we not give that selfish brat any more advantages."

Tsunami nodded sharply, "I'll talk to a friend in the village about hiding places. Her children spend so much time in the woods; they must know the best hiding places."

Kagome smiled. "We'll win, Tsunami-san. There's no way we'd fail something like this."

* * *

At the end of the week, Kagome wasn't so sure. Kakashi was fine, sure. Sasuke and Sakura had improved their chakra manipulation and endurance, respectively. Naruto had trained himself into unconsciousness last night, so he probably wasn't going to be moving. That was a problem.

Tsunami had flatly refused to go and hide with Naruto comatose in her house, as she wanted to make sure he woke up to friendly faces and not an empty house. After a while, Kagome had relented, but only after telling Tsunami to get the heck out of there after Naruto woke up.

Kagome had decided to go to the bridge against her better judgment, just in case Kakashi needed help dealing with the last two mist-nins. As it so happened, he had.

Zabuza, as predicted, wasn't dead. And the oinin from before, as predicted, was helping him.

"Kakashi, take the boy." Kagome said sharply. Somewhere in her head, Kagome knew that Haku was stronger than Zabuza, and that Kakashi was stronger than her. At least, he was during the day. And it was daytime now, so she was weaker. "Sorry if I deprived you of a fight, Zabuza, but I can tell that the boy is a bigger threat than you."

The man gave a harsh-sounding laugh. "So he is. Haku has a kekkei genkai, so I'm sure he'll give Kakashi fewer seconds of life before he goes down."

Kagome's brown eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't underestimate Konoha ninjas. Especially not Kakashi-kun." Once again, she pulled out her bow.

"Do you honestly expect to defeat me with _that_?" Zabuza sneered, looking very amused.

"Yes. I wouldn't be laughing if I were you." Kagome said in a flat tone. "Though, have you done research on what happens if you channel a variation of chakra through melee weapons? Here." She picked up a ten-foot iron bar that was lying on the ground. It had been put in the garbage pile, as it was bent hopelessly out of shape.

Charging her scarlet bow with her multicolored holy powers, she slashed it across the center of the bar. The bar fell in two.

"I'm not one to be taken lightly," Kagome said coolly.

Zabuza let out a howling laugh. "Then let's get to it!" Under his mask of bandages, she could imagine that he was grinning maniacally.

In the background, one could hear Haku's ice mirrors being summoned. Kagome felt a massive burst of chakra as Kakashi used a powerful jutsu.

And the jounin-ranked ninjas clashed.

* * *

As Sesshoumaru watched the ninjas try and kill each other, he noticed that the one fighting the ice-user was tiring quickly. Kagome was still relatively active, which could have been due to the fact that she had stopped relying on eyesight when Zabuza had used Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique).

Once she had sufficiently worn down the one with the huge sword, she took Kakashi's place against the ice-user, shrieking at the other jounin to take out Zabuza.

Somehow, Kakashi's two male genin had managed to get involved in the fight against the ice-user. The one in orange was out cold, and it seemed that the black-haired one was very worn.

Sesshoumaru's suspicions from earlier were confirmed as she watched his sister-in-law fight the ice-user. The ice-user was very powerful, but at the same time very weak.

The ice-user was exhausting himself by keeping up those mirrors, but he was also wearing down Kagome with the constant senbon attacks. Her powers protected herself from the worst of the assault, but she didn't have the breathing room necessary to counterattack.

And then the ice-user blasted the blonde boy with senbon. Sesshoumaru quickly understood the reasoning behind the attack. The attacker was running out of chakra, and was getting desperate against his two active foes. So he fired at the third foe, hoping to get one or more of his other opponents to save him, thus killing themselves.

The dark-haired boy was the one with fast enough reflexes. As he moved to shield the blonde, the senbon flew. The boy, ignoring the fact that he was probably fatally injured, grabbed the ice-user's arm and beat the shit out of him with only one move.

Then the blonde awakened, just in time to see his friend fall and the ice-user disappear relatively unharmed. With Shippou and his son's youki in the boy, any further activity would be hazardous to the delicate situation.

Sesshoumaru made his move. "_Kensatsu_!" Sesshoumaru drew the Toukijin, making a horizontal slash while still quite a ways from the ice mirrors. The hail of deadly youki needles impacted the lower circle of mirrors, destroying them instantly.

Kagome looked through the shattering ice and saw him.

"Sesshoumaru-sama!" she cried, stunned. The youkai gave her a sharp nod, and then stared impassively at the figures hunched on the ground.

The blonde was clutching his friend's motionless body like a lifeline, not willing to believe that he was dead. The ice-user was lying not far away, facedown on the ground. Then the ice-user moved, revealing an effeminate face with chestnut-colored eyes with a lifeless cast to them.

"Kill me." The boy (Sesshoumaru was only guessing at this point) had stood, and was watching his enemy with that same dead gaze.

Sesshoumaru simply raised an eyebrow. Meanwhile, as the two other ninjas who hadn't been in battle with the ice-user continued to try and kill each other, Kagome took one look at Sasuke before starting to yank all of the senbon out of his body.

At Naruto's half-outraged cry, she replied flatly, "Not one of these stupid needles has hit a vital organ. We just need to figure out…" Sesshoumaru tuned out the rest of her technical jargon. Medics.

Instead of killing the boy, Sesshoumaru walked towards where he still heard the sounds of battle. More specifically, to where Kakashi and Zabuza were still trying to kill each other.

He put the Toukijin away, knowing that humans were ever-so-fragile, and breaking either one of these two would have his brother breathing down his neck for another hundred years. So, he did the next best thing. Mokomoko-sama!

The said giant fur boa lashed forwards, right when Kakashi was going to Raikiri (Lightning Edge) Zabuza to death. Kakashi's summoned ninken hadn't let go of Zabuza just yet.

The fur absorbed the impact, even as the long-haired boy from before got between Kakashi and his intended target.

"For once, it seems as if your Raikiri isn't adequate." Sesshoumaru commented, withdrawing his mokomoko-sama to inspect the huge gash left in it. Kakashi was tired now, from wasting a Raikiri and from overusing the Sharingan.

"Yo, Kakashi-kun!" Kagome cried through the mist. "Everyone's fine over here!" The kunoichi ran through the thick mist, Naruto and Sasuke close behind. Not all that far away, Sakura was dragging Tazuna closer to the nearly-incapacitated mist-nins.

"I see that the battle is over." Sesshoumaru said to no one in particular, but he still drew everyone's attention. How could he not?

Sesshoumaru's hair was long enough to draw the envy of the eldest Hyuuga, though a silvery white as opposed to pitch black. His eyes were yellowish-gold and a little more angular than they had been when he'd first seen Kagome. The androgynous quality to his face had faded over time. But all in all, while he hadn't changed that much, Sesshoumaru was still very different from what the ninjas were used to.

"However, I can still sense hostility from the river." Kagome seemed to understand where the ninjas' comprehension failed, and immediately ran to one edge of the bridge, took out a flashlight, and pointed it into the water.

"Zabuza-san, drop the Kirigakure no Jutsu so I can see who's coming!" she shouted back at the elder mist-nin. Slowly, the obscuring mist rolled away, revealing a yacht loaded with soldiers. "Shoot!"

The ragtag crew of hired thugs scrambled onto the unfinished bridge, leveling their blades at the party threateningly. Every weapon from swords to clubs was being brandished threateningly.

In the far back of the crowd was a small, balding man in a suit, one arm in a cast. He wore sunglasses and a superior sneer, as if watching the Konoha and Kirigakure inhabitants from a throne.

"That is…Gatou, correct?" Sesshoumaru asked Kakashi, eyes never leaving the man's small form. He didn't seem dangerous, but humans often

"Judging by his lack of height, I'd say so," the silver-haired jounin answered. Both Kakashi and Zabuza were covered in each others' blood, and it was making Sesshoumaru nauseous. Humans.

"What do you want, Gatou?" Zabuza cut in harshly, eyeing the several dozen soldiers. He was in no condition to fight, Sesshoumaru absently noted, with huge bite wounds and both arms useless at his sides. The zanbatou of his would be useless without anyone to wield it.

"I'm sure you know that mist-nins are rather _expensive_," the short human seemed to use that word as an expletive, "and who needs you when I can get these many hire swords for the same price!" He seemed rather certain of his loose grasp on power as well.

"First lesson of power – skill over numbers." Sesshoumaru said frostily to the businessman. The small human quailed under the influence of Sesshoumaru's killing intent, which rolled off him in waves. "Second lesson – never underestimate a determined opponent, no matter how beaten down they are. Third lesson – never piss off a youkai, particularly a daiyoukai." As he said the last part, the whites of Sesshoumaru's eyes glowed faintly red, and his gold irises took on a more feral look. His hand drifted to the hilt of the Toukijin.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, it isn't necessary. I have enough chakra left to shut them up for good." Kagome said, making a move to grab his sleeve to gain his attention, but stopping short. Huh. Apparently, Inuyasha's mate had more in the way of self-preservation instincts than he did.

Sesshoumaru let out a snort. "Do as you will."

The woman had the nerve to smile at him before making rapid hand seals. "Katon: Karyuu Endan (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" A massive dragon made purely from fire issued from her mouth. Its fathomless eyes met Gatou's for an instant before it let out a terrifying shriek and tore after him.

The businessman, to his credit, didn't back down and instead ordered his hired swords to attack it. The goons hesitated just long enough for the dragon to surge past them, intent on killing Gatou. A pair of samurai tried to strike it, but were devoured by flames instead.

A small, irritating part of Sesshoumaru's mind wondered where humans got such unreasonable amounts of bravery from.

Teeth bared in a feral grin, Kagome commanded the fire dragon to stop. It did so, and vanished into thin air. By now, the beast had scared off all but a few of Gatou's men, thus making the business tycoon an even bigger target.

"Zabuza-san, Haku-san, I think you may have a grudge to settle." Kagome said, hands still ready to make more seals. The two mentioned mist-nins started to pay attention. "I wouldn't mind taking out this lowlife, myself." She started to crack her knuckles.

Zabuza gave a harsh laugh. "Not a snowball's chance in Hell." The elder mist-nin gestured for Haku to pay attention. "Haku, let's get rid of this pest." The boy nodded, gathering his senbon for one more assault.

"Yo, need a kunai?" Kakashi asked, tossing Zabuza one of his, which the mist-nin caught in his mouth.

Grinning like the maniac he seemed to be, Zabuza adjusted his grip on the kunai a little before becoming a gray blur. Haku followed, becoming an equally fuzzy brown blur.

"You know, you didn't have to save them." Kakashi said to Sesshoumaru, peering at the demon lord with his right eye. He'd already covered the Sharingan eye with his hitai-ate.

"It was either stop you and let them live, or let you continue and have to use the Tensaiga," the daiyoukai said flatly. "It costs more energy to use the Tensaiga. That is all." Some small corner of his heart allowed weakness, and it was saying something: _Or rather, I would have been guilty if I did not save all that I could_.

Kakashi gave him a blank look.

Kagome coughed. "The Tensaiga is a legendary sword that allows Sesshoumaru-sama to revive the dead, kill the undead, or send live opponents straight to Hell. And Sesshoumaru's the only one who can wield it." Everyone else, minus Haku and Zabuza, was giving her a very weird look.

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Nothing," was the mutual reply (Sesshoumaru didn't dignify that with an answer).

In the background, one could hear the sounds of Gatou and his thugs being dismembered. There was a gurgling gasp as the corrupt business was slashed in the throat. A senbon in the frontal cortex ended that bastard's reign of terror forever.

Meanwhile, a group of villagers that had shown up unnoticed were cheering like hell. The high-pitched voices and the cries of joy…they irritated Sesshoumaru's ears.

"What are we going to do about those mist-nins?" Kagome asked no one in particular. "If they keep running around, Souten's still going to be after them. And if it weren't for Zabuza's Kirigakure no Jutsu, she would have killed them both a while ago."

There was a long pause. Finally, Sakura said, "Why don't we get them to join Konoha's ranks?"

Naruto made a noise while shifting Sasuke. It sounded a bit like, "Sounds good to me."

"Then it's settled. Let's see what we can do." Kakashi concluded, eyes curved with that masked smile of his. As the mist-nins returned, the Konoha ninjas (and Sesshoumaru) relayed their plans.

Zabuza was immediately against going to Konoha for any reason, but he didn't want to have oinin tracking him around the clock. And Haku seconded anything Zabuza said, so that was a bit annoying. But the Konoha nins eventually won them over.

The rest was history.

* * *

A/N: I wonder if anyone's noticed that Sesshoumaru isn't really a member of the Hidden Leaf. Sure, he's _allied_ with Naruto and the rest of the Konoha crew, but only because Rin and his children live there. Thanks goes to **Crystal Inferno** for being my most consistant reviewer.

1) Sesshoumaru has many skills that he hasn't shown yet. One big example will come with the Chuunin Exam.

2) Inuyasha has only been mentioned in this story so far, but he will pay a big role later on.

3) I'm doing this story mostly from everyone else's points of view because _everyone_ knows how the story goes from Naruto's.

4) Believe it or not, Naraku will make a cameo (though I hate his guts).

5) Washimata the giant eagle has strength comparable to one of the bijuu (I don't remember which).

6) Updates will probably come slower from now on. (ducks Crystal Inferno's tomato) Sorry!


	6. The Delay

Chapter Six: The Delay

A/N: Thank god for Gatorade™. I don't think that I would have gotten past the last chapter without it. That, and 'Meant to Live' by Switchfoot. It was my writing music.

Sesshoumaru appears to be nineteen years old in the manga, while he's actually well over 900 by the beginning of the _Inuyasha_ series. Inuyasha, by contrast, is only 200. Shippou's about 50. Add 500 to all of those ages, and you get the age they are in the story.

Since daiyoukai like Sesshoumaru get stronger the longer they live, I'd say that Sesshoumaru could rival his own father by this point. Inuyasha…well, Inuyasha could rival the Hachibi no Hachimata (eight-tailed dragon). He's still a hanyou, which makes him still too weak to fight Kyuubi on even terms. As for Shippou, I'm bending a few rules here. I made Shippou stronger than he should be, just so the plot would work.

And my personal opinion – Sesshoumaru or Inuyasha could flatten Orochimaru any day of the week. Sesshoumaru's got his super-Tensaiga, and Inuyasha's got like four different forms of the Tetsusaiga. However, if old Oro-kun gets Sasuke, Kami-sama only knows what will happen.

Note on youki: Youki, or demon energy, is much stronger than human chakra. However, youki is also much harder to control, which prevents youki-users from learning, say, the Chidori. Thus, out of all the youkai-blooded children, Inuki has the best control, thanks to his half-human nature (and having less youki than the others). Sanyu is second, since he aspires to be a healer. After that, there's Nariko, Haruko, Keitaro, and finally Umeko, since she doesn't use youki in a human fashion.

At the same time, an uncontrolled strike from any of Team Six or Nine has the potential to kill. In times of stress, youki and the primal instincts associated with it will gain control of the genin. The person with the least control over _this_ aspect of youki is Inuki, while the person with the most control is Sanyu.

The story so far: _The Genin Exams have come and gone, and there are now fifteen new genin. Team Kakashi's first C-ranked assignment was to escort the master bridge-builder Tazuna to his home in Wave Country, and guard him until the bridge was completed. Arguing for the safety of Kakashi's genin team, Kagome eventually convinced the Hokage to let her tag along._

_Momochi Zabuza was the first opponent they had real trouble with. Later, at Tazuna's bridge, they meet the true man behind the attacks on Tazuna's family. Gatou, one of the most successful business tycoons in the world, was trying to take over Wave Country. He fired Zabuza and Haku moments before the ninjas eliminated his forces. Zabuza was the one who really finished him._

_Now, the tired ninjas march back to Konoha, with the two mist-nins in tow.

* * *

_

In Konoha, Shippou was getting very annoyed. It was getting hotter as the days went on, and the humidity was getting higher. The non-shinobi brats of the Leaf had taken to trying to pelt everyone nearby with water balloons. Add that to the fact that ninjas from other Hidden Villages had started to come in for the Chuunin Exam, and there was a recipe for disaster.

Ever since Kagome had gone on that mission with Kakashi and his team, Inuyasha had been running around like a headless chicken, doing everything possible to keep his mind off of his wife.

Well, Shippou supposed he couldn't blame him. Inuyasha was used to having to save Kagome, who tended to get herself into the biggest jams. But seriously, Kagome was hanging around with Kakashi. Surely he wouldn't let her get hurt.

It was often similar trains of thought that jinxed him, so Shippou decided to cut that one off.

Shippou was hanging around Konoha's outer wall, in the trees just outside. There were a lot of teams that would be returning from C-ranked missions today, only to start their Chuunin Exam training. He wasn't relaxing long before he heard voices. They started incoherent, but quickly grew more distinct.

"-and there's this ramen shop called Ichiraku's. They have the best ramen there!" Ah, so Naruto's group was back. That meant that Inuyasha would stop pining.

"Can you be silent for even an instant?" Huh? That was Sesshoumaru's drawling tone, all right. What was he doing with Team Seven and Kagome?

"Do you _really_ want him to answer that?" That seemed to be Kakashi.

There was a long silence between the two men, punctuated by Naruto's indignant squawking.

"No, in fact, I don't."

Yup, there was everyone. Even with two extra chakra signatures, it seemed that all were well and happy. Now all that was left to do was prepare for that Chuunin Exam.

* * *

Almost a day after Team Seven's return, Inuki of Team Nine was looking for Naruto. Inuki had shoulder-length white hair and gold eyes. Most of the top of his head was covered with a baseball cap, and he was more than a bit agitated.

First his sensei (and uncle) Sesshoumaru, had come back and announced the Chuunin Exam coming up without any notice. _Then_ Shippou had told everyone in the family about Naruto's demon seal, also telling them that it was not malignant, but very powerful. He told them that Naruto didn't know he had the seal. All in all, it had fallen to Inuki to tell Naruto that he was capable of destroying Konoha if he lost control of his emotions. That was just _wonderful_.

Then there was the fact that Kakashi had somehow managed to get two nukenin accepted into the village, including Zabuza of the Hidden Mist, no less. Sometimes, Inuki questioned the sanity of Copy Ninja Kakashi. Scratch that, he questioned it every day.

Skidding around a corner (and grinding the soles of his sandals), Inuki spotted the hyperactive blonde in one of his father's favorite places, the Ichiraku Ramen Bar.

If he wasn't seeing things, Naruto had sixteen ramen bowls stacked up next to him.

Eying the precariously stacked bowls with concern, Inuki edged over to the still-eating blonde.

"Naruto, can I talk to you for a minute?" Inuki asked. He was rather nervous, and knew that at his current strength, a youki-possessed Naruto could easily kill him.

"Huh? What is it?" the blonde asked, putting down the seventeenth ramen bowl. He spun around on the barstool, hopping off to face Inuki.

The first thing Inuki noticed was that Naruto was about four inches shorter than him. When one considered that Inuki was in the direct middle of the rookies in terms of height, that was saying a lot.

Inuki slapped some coins and bills on the counter to pay for Naruto's gluttony, before dragging the boy, yelling, to his apartment. After Naruto fumbled for the key and they went inside to sit down on the moth-eaten couch, the boy finally exploded.

"What the heck's so important that I had to be dragged away from my ramen!" he hollered, making Inuki clutch the sides of his head to stifle the noise.

After Naruto had realized his visitor was in pain, he relented. As Inuki got his bearings back, he said, "Naruto, this is really serious. No one, not even the Hokage, knows what I'm going to tell you."

Now Naruto seemed interested.

"Well, what is it? Is it some awesome new jutsu?" the blonde asked excitedly. Inuki mentally groaned at Naruto's stupidity.

"No!" Inuki snapped, getting frustrated. He just wanted to tell the idiot about the blasted seal and get it over with. "Look, the villagers have always hated your guts. Ever wonder why?"

That gave Naruto pause, and he motioned for Inuki to continue.

"The day you were born, October 10th, is the day Konoha barely escaped being destroyed by a rampaging fox demon, the Kyuubi no Youko." _And he's my cousin_, Inuki added to himself. "Anyway, if the Kyuubi followed through with its attack, hundreds of shinobi would've died. Instead, the fox turned tail and fled."

"What does this have to do with me? It's not like I'm the fox's brat or something." Naruto demanded crossly.

"I'm getting there. Naruto, you were the only kid in the village born that day. Since none of the villagers know what happened to Kyuubi after that night, they think it took on a human form and lives on as Uzumaki Naruto, number one prankster of the village." Inuki explained. "It has something to do with foxes being pranksters and stuff," he added.

"That's dumb. They hate me because they're too damn stupid to see that the freaking fox _left_." Naruto grumbled, his eyes narrowed in an almost perfect imitation of a fox.

"Can I continue?" At Naruto's nod, Inuki did so, "Only about ten shinobi even fought the Kyuubi. That number includes both of the Hokages, Kakashi-sensei, and Shippou, the red-headed jounin. So, no one but them knows about the Kyuubi running away and such. But no one really knows _everything_."

"When you were a baby, you looked a lot like you do know, with the whisker marks and stuff. But you've also got this thing called a demon seal." At that, Naruto paled. "It's invisible most of the time, except for the exact second when it was applied. The seal, unlike those in the Hyuuga Branch House, is completely beneficial. It gives you access to a type of energy called youki, which is the really difficult stuff that youkai use."

"Is that right…I guess those villagers were telling the truth about me…" Naruto mumbled. At Inuki's confused expression, he elaborated. "They've been calling me a monster for years."

Instantly, Inuki turned dull red with anger. "Those _idiots_. Having youki doesn't make someone a rampaging demon like the Kyuubi was! If anything, they should respect the fact that you're one of the only totally-human youki users. You're the first born in Konoha for almost a hundred years!" Of course, he was referring to Shippou, so he was really lying through his teeth on this.

Naruto blinked at that. "But you have to be a demon to use youki, don't you? In the scrolls it says that anyone who even tried to use youki gets his mind taken over by the energy and goes on a killing spree!"

Inuki shook his head vigorously, standing up and planting his feet in front of Naruto. "_Usually_," Inuki started, emphasizing the word. "Only a demon or someone with demon blood are supposed to be able to use youki. But there are some exceptions. And I'm looking at one of them."

Naruto stared at him with that foxish look of his. "Explain."

Inuki put a hand to his eyes, sighing. Removing the hand a moment later, he said, "Look, ever since ninjas started their villages, they've been breaking all the rules. When you were born, you already had those fox whiskers. That meant that you could and should have had the right to a lot of youki at birth. But since you're a human like the rest of us, a seal had to be used so the youki wouldn't bleed into your chakra before you could take it. The addition of youki was probably what screwed up your chakra control in the Academy, since it's supposed to be (how did Keitaro put it) unstable."

"So basically, my life's been screwed over from the start because some bastard decided to give me energy that was my _birthright_? What the hell," Naruto groaned.

"Anyway…" Inuki continued as if Naruto hadn't said anything. "Eventually, the youki is going to totally be absorbed and accepted by your chakra. Then you can be officially be classified as a hanyou, but it won't be for another five years, at least."

"This is just wonderful. What the hell did I do in my last life to deserve this!" Naruto bellowed, incredibly frustrated.

"Naruto, just be happy you didn't end up in the Hyuuga clan's Branch House. If you'd ended up there, I wouldn't be surprised if you committed suicide." Inuki responded. "Feel free to come to Team Nine's training ground if you want to know anything else. I'll usually be there from ten to five."

"Inuki…" Naruto murmured as the white-haired boy was about to leave, with his hand on the doorknob.

"Hm?" Gold locked with clear blue for an instant.

"Thanks for telling me. Most people wouldn't."

"Oh, it's no big deal. Besides, there's still more to it. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, later."

* * *

As soon as Kakashi walked onto the training ground, he knew that there was something on Naruto's mind.

While Sakura shouted at him with her usual volume, Naruto seemed to be a mere shadow of his former self. His complaint about his sensei's tardiness was tired annoyance at best. Something was definitely off.

All through the training, Naruto moved much more carefully than normal, as if he was afraid to hurt either Sasuke or Sakura. Sakura Kakashi could understand, but Sasuke? Since when did Naruto pass up a chance to beat his 'rival' into the ground?

After the training of the day was declared over at six, Inuki and Keitaro of Team Nine and Nariko of Team Six greeted the blonde and whisked him away. Kakashi, having nothing better to do, followed them to a park. The playground was empty due to the fading light, as the parents had taken their children home already. Nariko was perched on top of the monkey bars, Keitaro on the slide, Inuki on a swing and Naruto on the swing next to him.

All three of the other genin were speaking to the blonde in soft tones, slowly encouraging him to speak.

From his vantage point in a nearby tree, he couldn't see the genins' lips, nor could he hear them. But whatever they were saying was working, and soon Naruto grinned at them.

Eventually, Kakashi could hear them.

"…not to worry about it. Dad says that it won't change your abilities much, just make you a bit stronger and faster," the redheaded girl, Nariko, was saying. "When you get to the point where it starts to really impact how you do in missions, he says he'll take you on as a private apprentice. If he isn't available, he says that he has another person in mind."

"So we're all set for when the changes happen?" the black-haired boy, Keitaro, asked. "Got all the preparations and gonna contact the right people and junk?"

"Yeah," said the white-haired Inuki. "All Naruto's got to do now is screw up the courage to tell his sensei about the changes. And possibly Yondaime-sama and Sandaime-sama."

"So, check?" Nariko asked. She held up a notepad and pencil.

"Check," responded everyone but Naruto, who had suddenly gone mute again, and Kakashi, who couldn't afford to be seen.

Nariko, Keitaro, and Inuki stared at him.

Naruto finally caved after thirty seconds. "I'll…I'll tell him after next practice, okay? By the way, why are you guys telling me this now?"

Keitaro spoke up, "The Chuunin Exams are really stressful. It just wouldn't do if you went and killed someone because you didn't know you could with a single punch. Emotional backlash and such."

"Oh. Thanks," the blonde responded in a small voice.

Inuki snorted. "Don't thank yet. In the Chuunin Exams, the rookie teams from the Leaf are still rivals."

Naruto let out a laugh and all four genin ran off, presumably towards their homes.

So Kakashi was left alone in the park with his thoughts.

* * *

In a different location in Konoha several days later, a giant fire-colored dragon was eyeing his mistress warily. All similar creatures to him knew that Souten of the Lightning and Thunder was a stern taskmaster, but they had never told of her unusual dedication to the way of the longspear. She trained feverishly as if under a trance, only to ask a moment later what Kouryuu wanted for dinner.

At the moment, Kouryuu and his mistress, Souten-sama, were at her favorite training area, an abandoned clearing that had once been the location of a grand mansion that had been destroyed during the Stone-Leaf War. The blackened remains of the once-beautiful building still half-stood off to the side, and Souten-sama often used them for concealment attempts.

Of course, Kouryuu always found her due to his sharp nose. The ashes just made it take longer.

The sun was setting, Kouryuu noted. Souten was still scorching the area with her Thunder Pike abilities, despite the fact that it didn't really matter how much damage a single strike did, as her opponents were only humans nowadays. Raiton: Raijin no Jutsu (Lightning Style: Thunder God Technique, as she had decided to call the move) was a powerful technique, but it didn't need refinement as far as he could see. It wouldn't, as the original attack, 'God of Thunder', had been passed down from her elder brother, Hiten.

"Souten-sama, I think that we should prepare for the Chuunin Exams. Haruko-chan, Nariko-chan, and Umeko-chan will be in it, you know." Even as Kouryuu let the last word escape, he knew he was screwed. Souten had that look on her face that said 'If you repeat that or don't, it doesn't matter – I'll kill you anyway'.

"What was that?" she asked in a deathly quiet voice.

"Ah…Kagome-sama and Sesshoumaru-sama have entered their genin teams into the Chuunin exam." As the poor dragon youkai felt his mistress's rage spike, he quailed. Souten drew close and he cried, "Don't hurt me!"

"I guess I'm going to need to have a talk with Kagome-chan, then," she said coolly. "Come, Kouryuu. We will need to calm ourselves before we confront her."

Kouryuu was about to mention that Souten was the one who needed the calming, but decided he rather liked living and changed what he was going to say. "Souten-sama, why don't you wish to confront Sesshoumaru-sama?"

Her ruby eyes took on an amused look, and finally replied, "Because like you, I rather enjoy living."

The two old friends shared a mutual laugh and hurried off towards the village, Kouryuu quickly shifting form into a small, dull red dragon with much smaller wings. He hopped onto Souten's shoulder and they disappeared.

Unbeknownst to either youkai, another set of red eyes watched them from the shadows.

"Chuunin Exam…" a male's voice murmured softly. "You may have warned me away from the village, Father, but surely an inter-village gathering would include me, as well."

* * *

_The day finally arrived with minimal fuss. By 'the day', the author means the day of the First Exam. But anyone with any brains would have already known that – it's the title._

_Moving on…

* * *

_

Sanyu was known as the quiet one, the one that someone could ignore and not get yelled at for it. He, unlike his father, didn't have the commanding presence that usually reduced opponents to sniveling lumps on the floor. But that wasn't to say that Sanyu was a pushover.

Inutaisho Sanyu was a young, inexperienced daiyoukai. He knew his place in the world (the top), his friends' place in the world (a little below the top), and how his abilities and control of those abilities were compared to his peers (top notch and a bit below that, respectively). And, best of all, he never let any of that go to his head. Sanyu wasn't stupid – he knew that power-hungry people like Naraku were promptly killed off, and that those who lost themselves in that power were promptly chewed out by their betters.

That was basically why he decided to hold back in the Academy. Graduating in the middle of the class wasn't nearly as bad as not graduating at all.

That all said, just who the hell decided to come up with this juvenile 'exam'? Some stupid chuunin had probably used a genjutsu and was screwing with the genin's heads. How else did the room number change from 201 to 301?

"Nariko, Haruko, this is the second floor of the building. It wouldn't be smart if we popped our heads into this room and no one else was inside." Sanyu said, grasping his teammates' shoulders as they began to go for the doorknob. He steered them none-too-gently towards the nearest flight of stairs.

They stopped in front of the designated test room, spotting Kagome-sensei right in front of the door. They were just barely out of the former priestess's earshot.

"Sanyu-kun, what was that for?" Nariko asked. She hadn't resisted the nudges and shoves he'd given her and Haruko, and never seemed to complain if he did something that he was _sure_ should displease her. Humph. Girls.

"You mean, with all your experience with genjutsu, you couldn't tell that the last hall was under one? Or that those six-time failures were actually a pair of ninjas, both of which were at least chuunin?" Sanyu replied in an exasperated tone. He never got _angry_, exactly, just really, really annoyed. And tired.

At that, Nariko snapped her mouth shut, looking a little hurt.

"Nice going, stupid." Haruko hissed. Haruko was impulsive and headstrong. It seemed that he also had a strong protective instinct concerning his little sister.

Sanyu almost brushed off the insult with a 'whatever', but something stopped him. That was what his older brother, Keitaro, always did. He acted unconcerned, but it wasn't particularly ingrained in Sanyu's personality to be that way. "I'm sorry."

Nariko smiled at him, then said. "Let's go see what Kagome-sensei wants."

The discussion with their sensei was rather simple – were the consent forms filled out? Did they understand that genin could only enter the Exam in teams of three? Were they certain they knew who to trust? This last was answered by Nariko ("Only listen to the advice of other Leaf rookies. The rest are just raring to rip you apart in the Exam.").

"Also, listen to Inuki." Kagome-sensei said, her pretty face growing strangely stern.

"Why wouldn't we? He's a rookie too, and our cousin." Haruko responded, his voice going a little high in confusion.

"Listen up, team." Kagome-sensei said sharply. At that, Team Six stood at attention. "Inuki's period of weakness is during the Second Exam. If he confides in any of you that something bad will happen then, believe him and act accordingly."

"Something bad? Wouldn't that just be first-exam jitters?" Sanyu asked. Inuki, despite being downright reckless at times, could also be very nervous if he knew people were expecting something of him.

"No. I discovered during my mission with Kakashi's team that I get visions of the future." Kagome-sensei explained. "If genetics say anything about ninja society, Inuki probably will get glimpses of the future. If he gets them during the Chuunin Exam, you'll be able to tell. He'll lose consciousness for a minute or more, so look out for him."

"Hai, Kagome-sensei!" chorused her genin.

Kagome gave a tiny smile at their loyalty and pushed the door open. "Go on in."

* * *

Inside the room, Umeko was already rather bored. She had planned to do something fun (like pull a random prank on Keitaro), but _no_, the blasted Chuunin Exam had to be scheduled for today!

Out of her siblings, Umeko acknowledged the fact that she was probably the least skilled of the lot. Well, in the subject of youki manipulation into human jutsus, anyway. She excelled in using youki the traditional way – to power fox magic tricks, making them almost lethal.

She'd made her top trick into a perpetual weapon of mass destruction. The weeping mushrooms now siphoned chakra out of a chosen victim, dropping off after they'd had their fill. The stone statue ability had turned into the equivalent of an Akimichi's Baika no Jutsu (Multi Size Technique). Sesshoumaru-sensei had been the only one out of her teammates to free himself from the trap. The last technique she'd improved to at least her half-brother's standard was the basic foxfire, which could now decimate an acre of land per blast. And that figure didn't include the land that would be destroyed after the inevitable wildfire that followed.

Now, what had she been thinking about…? Ah, yes. She was bored. Umeko was bored enough that she wished someone would light one of her oversized pigtails on fire. Anything would be better than waiting in that overcrowded room with the zillions of foreign genin, all of which looked like they'd like to rip into her.

Uchiha Sasuke would be proud of such negative thinking.

Technically speaking, she wasn't alone. Teams Eight and Ten were in the hostile room with her team, but she only wanted to see her siblings. Unfortunately, Team Six hadn't arrived yet.

Man, things were mind-numbing without Haruko and Nariko to lighten things up.

As if on cue, Team Six popped in through the door and the other teams rose to greet them.

Kiba bragged about something that probably hadn't happened, Shino pretended they weren't there, and Hinata greeted them in her soft, whispery voice. Shikamaru pretty much said 'Hi' and went back to counting ceiling tiles, Ino whined that her 'Sasuke-kun' wasn't with them yet, and Chouji stuffed more chips in his mouth.

Team Nine had different reactions. Umeko, for example, tackled her older brother and hugged him as if she thought he was going to disappear. Keitaro inclined his head at his younger (fraternal) twin, while Sanyu greeted him just as standoffishly. Inuki grinned at Nariko, showing his sharp fangs while she mirrored the action.

After Team Nine was accepted into the ranks of 'those who occupy this room', Haruko grabbed Keitaro and Inuki by their wrists and dragged them over to his teammates. Umeko followed by association.

"Okay, everyone here?" Nariko asked. If by 'everyone', he meant Team Nine and Six, the answer was yes.

"What's this about, Nariko?" Inuki asked, puzzled.

"Security measures." Sanyu cut in quickly, before Nariko had a chance to speak.

"What for?" Keitaro hissed, looking a mite unhappy about being pulled away from doing whatever it was that he had been doing. Considering it was the genius (but at the same time, quite dense) of Sesshoumaru's twin sons, it could have been pondering the meaning of life.

"Listen, Keitaro!" Haruko snapped none-too-quietly. He added in a lower voice, "Who would you rather trust, a foreign or older genin, or a rookie?"

"A rookie, of course. If the older genin have flunked enough times to be placed with us in this exam, they must hold a grudge." Keitaro replied coolly. "What kind of idiot do you take me for?"

"A particularly stupid one, it seems." Inuki muttered. "Look, if an older genin or a foreign one approaches you, act as if they're something particularly nasty. You never know what the bastards from the Sound and Sand are planning."

"Why the Sound and Sand?" Umeko asked, confused. Was there something particularly wrong with those villages?

Nariko looked at her and said softly, "Sand's peace treaty with us is due to end this exam. As for the Sound, don't you listen to the rumors? It was founded by that sannin, Orochimaru!"

"Orochimaru…he's that notorious nukenin who defected before the Kyuubi almost struck right?" Sanyu said in realization.

"Yeah. And that means we've got to band together with the other teams if we want to survive this exam." Inuki spoke up. When the others, including Umeko, glanced at him, he explained, "Mom said that she saw Orochimaru in her vision, though she needed Sandaime-sama to confirm who it was."

There was a long silence between the youkai genin.

Finally, Umeko broke it. "So, how much do we tell everyone else?"

"There's a bit more. I had a vision last night. In it, Team Seven nearly died because Orochimaru confronted them head-on." This statement from Inuki wasn't met with gasps, but with a sort of grim resolution. "Team Ten confronted the Sound genin, but weren't strong enough to stop them. Lee from Gai's team had his eardrums blown out." Haruko cringed. "They were all in a forest of some sort, with huge trees that blocked the sun. I think they were looking for…a scroll of some sort? All the teams already had one, but they wanted a second, slightly different one. Then they were supposed to take the scrolls to the tower in the middle of the forest."

"Wow. Do you guys think that's the second or third exam?" Umeko asked.

"Does it matter? What does matter is that the forest is the Forest of Death that Dad practices in, and that Orochimaru is rather fond of creaming genins he comes across." Nariko said sharply. "We need to figure out some sort of cautionary measures."

"Back to Umeko's question…" Haruko said with a sigh.

There was another pause, but this time Umeko could imagine that everyone's brains were working in high gear.

"Just tell them…tell them to stay to the tops of trees." Keitaro said suddenly, surprising them by showing that he had been paying attention beyond the point where he'd been scolded. "Humans don't often look up, which is why they get ambushed so often in forests. Stay high, stay silent, move swiftly. Get to the tower, grab a scroll right outside it, then get in."

There were nods all around, though Sanyu did so rather grudgingly. Umeko decided that Sanyu didn't like Keitaro all that much, despite the fact that they were fraternal twins.

"So, when should this excellent advice be administered?" Sanyu asked, doing an accurate impression of Sasuke at his snappiest and most sarcastic.

"Whenever we get called to Training Ground 44, I guess. Now, let's go greet Team Seven." Nariko said, effectively ending the conversation.

* * *

Nariko was a redhead with red eyes, like her fellow triplets. She had been born on the same day as Haruko and Umeko, but they were fraternal like Sanyu and Keitaro. Nariko wore her hair differently than most people her age. Her bangs were long and framed her pale face, making her look cute despite the fact that she was much more dangerous than the average twelve-year-old. Her low ponytail was disguised by a deep red ribbon that wound around it, with only a small tuft of red hair poking out the end. She wore light greens and dark blues, both of which clashed horribly with her hair. She hated being called short (though she was), hated all non-youkai dogs, and hated spies.

So how was it that she was confronted by all three at the same time?

Kiba called her short on a regular basis (including right then), he had that mutt Akamaru, and the white-haired man, Yakushi Kabuto, who was standing right next to Sanyu, was definitely a spy. He stank of snakes and blood, making Nariko instantly suspect that he was in cahoots with Orochimaru. It was a well-known fact that the sannin was obsessed with snakes and human anatomy.

"May I ask why an obviously more experienced genin is helping a bunch of rookies?" Sanyu inquired in a sharp tone. Apparently, Sanyu sensed something off as well.

Kabuto opened his mouth to respond, but Inuki cut him off and said loudly, "You know, this _does_ seem weird. In a room full of people who hate us, doesn't one good egg seem a bit too welcome?"

"I was just going to level the playing field a bit, you know?" Kabuto said, feigning nervous surprise.

"Too bad for you that can be taken a number of ways," Sasuke put in, glaring at Kabuto without activating the Sharingan.

"Yeah, this is a little fishy!" Ino said suddenly. Nariko snorted. The blonde was such a bubblebrained twit, she was only agreeing with her 'Sasuke-kun'.

"It is logical to think that," murmured Shino behind his high collar, but it was so quiet that Nariko doubted anyone but her actually heard it.

"It would be better for you to leave now, Kabuto-san," Keitaro said in a deathly quiet voice. "There is no such thing as a harmless ninja."

The white-haired young man slinked off to a distant corner somewhere, probably to lick his wounds. Konoha rookies weren't as helpless or stupid as most rookies were.

Nariko thought they were in the clear until Sasuke rounded on Sanyu. "Explain," he said coldly.

"Explain what?" Sanyu shot back.

"Tell us why you got on Kabuto's case." That was Kiba.

"You mean you can't tell?" Haruko cut in. "Kabuto _reeked_ of snakes and human blood. No offense, but I was pretty sure you wouldn't want someone like that as a friend."

"Snakes and human blood? Is that all you had against him?" Sakura asked, looking somewhere between disappointed and surprised.

"No, it wasn't." Nariko said, speaking in a loud voice to match Sakura. Sakura may have made the top of the class in written tests, but she knew _nothing_ of the real world. "He stuck out like a sore thumb when he wanted to 'help' us. Everyone in this room hates the rookies, so why should he be any different? Also, snakes and human blood amount to one person, and _he_ is someone we would rather see dead."

"Orochimaru," Keitaro said, filling the gap. "The snake sannin and a few of his lackeys have snuck into the Exams (we can detect them by scent), so I feel better if we thwart one of their plans before it has time to show promise."

"What is his plan, then?" Shikamaru asked, showing unusual interest.

"I think it has something to do with making friends with Sasuke." At that, the dark Uchiha boy blinked. Inuki continued, "He was giving you lot of attention – for a guy."

"Anyway, what were you going to ask that info-monger about?" Umeko asked Sasuke, patiently waiting for a response.

"None of your business," he snapped.

"Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee," Chouji said around a mouthful of his favorite potato chips. Sasuke glared at him. Ino whacked him on the head as a bonus.

"Lee's a taijutsu expert with little to no experience with ninjutsu and genjutsu." Sanyu said. "His team is sensei Maito Gai, Hyuuga Neji and Tenten. Lee has a habit of overacting and overcompensating. If you ever find yourself in a fight with him, get the hell out of there as fast as you can."

"As for Gaara…" Haruko continued when Sanyu stopped, "Gaara is probably the most dangerous genin in this competition. He has no skill in taijutsu, so a fast opponent might be able to take him down before his sand abilities kill them. Gaara's energy is a mix between regular chakra and youki, though that doesn't mean he's any less dangerous to youkai than a human. Add that to the fact that he's a jinchuuriki, and you've got a bloodthirsty half-human on your hands."

There was a long silence, which was slowly filled with the sound of drifting sand as Gaara materialized behind Haruko.

"Die," was all the Shukaku host said before his cursed sand began to snake its way up Haruko's legs. Haruko's eyes only widened in shock as the sand pinned his arms to his sides.

"I don't think so." In the same instant, Sanyu and Keitaro were on the Sand nin, Sanyu with his claws around Gaara's pale neck, Keitaro with a kunai pressed against his forehead. It was Sanyu who had spoken, and he tightened his iron grip to make his point.

If Nariko wasn't just functioning on adrenaline, she was sure that she felt Sanyu and Keitaro using their youki to flatten Gaara's, trying to intimidate him.

Nariko thought it was a sound plan, and added her youki to the mix, though hers had far more rage than either of Sesshoumaru's sons seemed able to muster. She drew close to Haruko's side, and turned her head Gaara's way, expression becoming dangerously feral. She snarled, "Let my brother go." Nariko exposed her fangs just as Umeko did the same behind her.

Gaara's Shukaku youki retreated, leaving the sand to gather itself and flee to the gourd on the sand-nin's back.

"You had better hope we don't meet during the practical, Shukaku host." Sanyu snapped in the boy's ear as he released him.

There was an even longer silence, but now it also applied to the two other sand nins, who were stunned to see their strongest shinobi forced into submission by 'rookie' Leaf nins.

Finally, Haruko broke the silence.

"See what we mean?"

This time, no one argued.

* * *

A/N: My writing music for this was 'Passion' by Utada Hikaru, amazingly. So, to make up for the wait, I reward **Crystal Inferno**, **raiden no onna**, and **animerincheetah** with this much longer chapter. It was 16 pages long.

Notes:

1) Nariko, Sanyu, and Keitaro are smart. Couple that with Inuki's ability to see the future and their sense of smell, it wouldn't be difficult for them to root out Kabuto.

2) Sorry if nothing really major happened, but this was more of an establishing chapter, like the first few were. After all, the genin need to learn a bit about Oro before they commit to a cautionary plan.

3) No offense to Gaara fangirls, but he is supposed to be a killing machine at this point.

4) Sorry to **Crystal Inferno**, but don't fret, as the Sound trio should make their appearances next installment (Muse: She means chapter)


	7. Information Gathering

Chapter Seven: Information Gathering

A/N: I've never actually seen the First Exam episodes all the way through, so I apologize in advance for any errors.

If anyone guesses who the mysterious observer is, I'll give them a cookie.

Hint: He's already shown up once in this story, but didn't have all that many lines.

As for the Sound trio, I'll tell you straight out that I hate Kin. She's a sadist, and we never understand why she serves Orochimaru, who later kills her to summon the Shodai and Nidaime Hokages. Zaku I kind of feel sorry for, but I'm not predisposed to letting him off the hook. Oro needs a sacrifice or two, you know. As for Dosu, I'm mildly impressed by his and Zaku's loyalty to each other, even if they don't care if Kin dies.

All of Shippou's children can produce the crystal flower, but none of them can hold a single crystal for a full hour. It takes too much concentration and, let's face it; twelve-year-old killing machines only have an attention span as long as it takes to kill something.

Each OC boy plays with a different weapon. Inuki's fighting style is called soujutsu, the Japanese art of spear-wielding, even though he tends to whack people with it as if it were a rokushakubou (a six-foot bamboo staff, better known as simply a bo). He just hasn't been seen with it yet. Haruko depends on basic taijutsu and several fire-based or wood-based ninjutsus. Keitaro usually uses a kusarigama, which is a slightly larger version of Kohaku's chain scythe (Isshin-ryuu is the style). Sanyu uses a katana with no distinctive style.

The OC girls use kunai, ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu with little to no specialization. Nariko may be recorded as a genjutsu specialist, but she is balanced in each ninja category (For example, when startled she may summon a massive flesh-eating tree). Umeko can and will use every trick that her father or any other fox youkai is capable of doing.

I just noticed an oversight on my part – Umeko thinks 'half-brother' when it's supposed to be 'father'. I blame it on a muse from another story.

And just why the hell do I have over two-and-a-half thousand hits, yet only have nine reviews? You readers are such a lazy lot. What do I have to do, reach forty thousand words before you pay attention to the little purple button in the corner?

_Recap: Konoha's genins have managed to piss off the most dangerous of Suna's, Haruko is obviously not smart enough to avoid irritating people, and youki can be used to oppress those whose youki is weaker than your own. Some mysterious man who's not Orochimaru has entered the village, and we're coming up on the most influential part of the _Naruto_ plotline, etc. That would be it._

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"Well, we managed to make enemies with Sabaku no Gaara and his teammates," Umeko said after a long silence between the genin. "I hope that a Sound nin gets to fight him, not us."

Keitaro wasn't quite sure that he agreed, but it didn't really matter. Gaara wasn't really an issue, in his opinion. Suna had only sent one team, and the Konoha rookies had already gotten on bad terms with them.

"All right, explain why you want the Sound's fighters to die so damn bad." It was Naruto and his slightly high voice, again.

"I think we already explained that. If we didn't, just know that the Sound has been unpredictable since the start." Keitaro muttered, counting ceiling tiles. "It can be assumed that all of their attacks have something to do with sound and the auditory system, but other than that, no one knows what they've got up their sleeves."

All the daiyoukai genius got in response was a confused, "Eh?"

"In other words," Sanyu said almost waspishly, "don't trust Sound nins any farther than you can throw them."

The black-haired Inutaisho brother noticed the Sound nins in the corner glaring at Sanyu rather venomously.

Keitaro grunted his assent. That was all he'd ever give. Never a full-out 'yes', since Sanyu didn't deserve it. His brother was such a suck-up to their father, always acting as if he was an attention-deprived runt. And then he had the gall to say that Keitaro was a show-off during their Academy days! Ha, as if!

Inuki, their cousin and Keitaro's teammate, looked from brother to brother with some trepidation, as if he expected them to try and maul each other at any minute. While Sanyu and him were hardly buddy-buddy like most twins were, they knew when to call off the sibling rivalry. If only during dire times.

Inuki had worn off most of his rough personality by trying to stay in the middle of any dispute that Sesshoumaru's twins sons got into. As their mother had said, their fights were quite tiresome to deal with for extended periods of time.

Inuki sighed, adjusting his hitai-ate so it would pin his ears, which sat on the top of his head and were dog-like, to his head. Then he said, "Anyway, there's got to be a practical during this type of exam. Dad says that Konoha usually has the practical in the Forest of Death, or Training Ground 44. The wildlife there is usually about fifty times larger than it should be, so it'd be good idea to have someone carry explosive tags or something." Inuki lowered his voice so only the Leaf rookies could hear, "Finally, if you don't want to be randomly turned into centipede-chow or a bloody stain on the ground, you stay high in the trees, move fast, and don't stop running unless you're about to die of exhaustion. And if you need to stop, use a genjutsu to make sure no one finds you resting."

Keitaro had almost been certain that only a whale could have that much lung capacity.

"Short and sweet, Inuki-kun. Remember that next time," Umeko muttered, tapping Inuki's shoulder as the hanyou finally realized how much he'd said.

Huh, he hadn't known that Umeko had a crush on Inuki. Keitaro stored that bit of information in his brain, in the place where blackmail material went.

"While that's all probably going to be useful, why are you helping us?" Shino asked, the normally quiet bug-user speaking up for once.

It was Nariko who jumped on the chance to answer. "We're rookies, duh. We're going to be targeted way more than a bunch of genin that are in their early twenties. It's like…being allies in a war zone, you know?"

Thankfully, Nariko didn't have to dig herself any deeper because a scar-faced jounin popped into the room. Accompanying him were several chuunins.

There were a few that Keitaro could recognize, but he couldn't identify the extremely feminine-looking boy (only realized by scent) or the brown-eyed man with a huge sword strapped to his back.

"Who the hell are–?" Kiba began, but was silenced by Shikamaru clapping a hand over his mouth. Normally, Shino would have, but it was a nice change of pace. Clearly, Kiba didn't know who the two new chuunins were, either.

Apparently, though, Team Seven did.

"Whoa, Zabuza and Haku got turned into Leaf chuunins!" Naruto exclaimed to Sasuke and Sakura, who both looked at the newly-identified pair with varying degrees of surprise.

Naruto waved at the pair, and the androgynous boy waved back with a smile that broke the tense mood.

"Alright you brats, listen up!" shouted the scar-faced jounin. Instantly, the rowdy foreigners quieted. "I am the proctor of the First Exam, Morino Ibiki!"

Haruko was disappointed to realize that the First Exam was a written test. Damn his luck! He'd hated the Academy tests and had flunked some of them on purpose, even.

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Haruko was sitting way in front, almost nose-to-nose with one of the chuunins who were supposed to be preventing cheating. The boy was about fifteen or so, and was only distinguishable as a male due to his scent, but even that was stretching it.

Keitaro was three rows back and four seats to the left, Sanyu directly one row back, Nariko two seats to the right and five rows back, Inuki was on his left, and Umeko was way in the back right corner.

Ino was in the fourth row out of a total of nine, giving her a perfect view of the mirrors attached to the ceiling. Shikamaru was in the same row as Chouji (the sixth) but eight seats apart. Team Gai's members were all in the same approximate area, the front right section. Hinata was diagonal from him, sitting next to Naruto on her other side. Sasuke and Shino were somewhere behind Haruko, at an angle that he couldn't see easily. Sakura seemed to be in the middle somewhere, perhaps five rows back. Kiba was in the middle left section, in Haruko's blind spot.

Well, it seemed as if everything was ready. If only the examiner wasn't Ibiki…Haruko sighed inwardly, almost wishing that Kagome-sensei hadn't told him about ANBU's Torture and Interrogation department.

As Ibiki began stating the rules for the test, (get questions wrong and get docked points, get caught cheating and get docked points) Haruko stared at the test's first question.

_What the hell is this?_ Haruko thought blankly. While only chuunins were supposed to be able to answer this kind of questions, he was sure that even Sesshoumaru wouldn't be able to understand a word of it. _I suppose there's only one thing for it_. _Crystal flowers it is_.

He supposed that Umeko felt the same way, as he suddenly felt her use a bit of youki to grow the plant at a phenomenal rate. She probably wasn't going for theatrics, since she used the non-glowing version and grew it under her section of the desk.

A few desks back, Nariko was using her brain and churning out answers. She was simply much more attentive in classes than her siblings, and was now quite happy about that. They would have to cheat, while she wouldn't.

Sakura was not at the top of her class for nothing. Ten minutes in, she was almost done. The last question on her sheet, number four, was a bit tougher. And suddenly, after about thirty seconds of muddling through her thoughts, she found the problem. She'd forgotten to carry the two. Smiling to herself, Sakura filled in the last answer in the test.

Ten minutes after Sakura finished, Keitaro did too. He wasn't at the top of the class during the Academy in written tests, but he was fairly clever in his own right. It was just that his knowledge was based more on common sense than textbook info.

Haruko and Umeko were using their crystal flowers in a modified form. For one, there was only a single, poinsettia-sized blossom with a glasslike screen in the center. The blossom's image was the same as what its spores could see while floating about the room. To get a clear image, one had to use almost a handful of the yellow pollen per two-hundred cubic-feet of enclosed space. That made this type of reconnaissance almost useless outdoors.

Sanyu was simply sitting there, seeming to not be spying at all. However, he was using the mirrors on the ceiling to their fullest. All he had to do was seem as if he was merely daydreaming and glance up. Or he could lay his favorite katana on the desk and stare at it at a certain angle to see the mirrors on the ceiling.

Inuki had had the forethought to bring his primary weapon, a seven-foot spear with an overly large head, and was using the reflection in the metal to see the papers of those behind him.

Hinata and Neji were using their Byakugan to see other people's papers, their blood limits coming in handy. It was probably the best tactic that any of the genin had come up with.

Sasuke used his Sharingan on a rock genin who seemed a mite too calm in such a tense atmosphere and was rewarded with all nine answers, which he hastily copied down. _Naruto and Sakura had better not be screwing around_.

Ino used her Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique) to possess the Grass ninja in front of her, before popping back into her own body to scribble the answers down. Once she was ready, she used her family's technique again on Shikamaru to give him the answers. Shikamaru promptly used his Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique) on Chouji and gave the last member of their team the much-needed answers.

Kiba was using Akamaru's presence on the top of his head to have the dog spy on the opponent's papers. The dog barked the answers into his owner's ear, which Kiba wrote out with a grin. Kiba was the only one in the room who could understand the dog, so there was no fear of accidentally telling others the answers.

Shino was using his kikai insects to spy on other people's papers using his bond with the bugs. Even if a single insect had a rather horrible memory, the kikai bug could simply memorize one answer before returning to its perch on Shino's finger.

Tenten and Lee depended upon the same tactic as Sanyu, though Tenten had taken to manipulating one of the large mirrors with chakra strings. In that way, she was helping both herself and her teammate.

By the time the thirty-minute mark had passed, around half of the genin teams had been kicked out of the exam for cheating. That number included everyone in Shikamaru's row besides himself and Chouji, several genin around Team Gai, and a few teams from both Grass and Mist. All but two of the Rain teams were out. The Sand and Sound teams, however, stayed.

And then, after the allotted hour was up, Ibiki dropped the bomb. The Tenth Question.

Behind folded arms and a bored expression, Keitaro smirked at the many genin who were giving up and quitting the exams. Really, humans had such little sense… If it came down to it, he could simply sneak his less-intelligent teammates the answer to the tenth question.

Sanyu barely refrained from strangling his elder twin just to get that damned smirk off his face. He settled for gouging holes in the desk with his claws. Nonetheless, he knew that Nariko could answer all nine if she so pleased, while Haruko may have had to cheat.

Umeko stared at the inspector thoughtfully. Should she take the question and risk being a genin forever, or not accept it and take her teammates down with her? _Wait a minute…who cares about being stuck a genin forever? It's not like I'd stop getting stronger if I answer wrong. If anything, I can just get Mom to teach me new stuff later._ Grinning to herself, Umeko lowered her half-raised hand and settled down to watch the cowards fail.

Nariko disregarded the choice aspect of the Tenth Question. She'd answered all nine of the others, hadn't she? She would answer this last question correctly and move on to the next part of the Chuunin Exams.

Inuki watched the examiner with mild apprehension. He had used mostly cheating skills to get this far, and wasn't really sure he'd be able to answer something with such high stakes. But then, with Keitaro and Umeko so determined, what choice did he have?

Haruko barely listened as Ibiki declared the tenth question. He had all nine answers, and wasn't about to kick his sister and his other teammate out of the exams for his own sake. Not like he mentioned that to anyone else, though.

However, the fox was mildly taken aback when Naruto shakily raised his hand. He had thought Sakura was going to do the self-sacrifice thing for Naruto's sake…

And the blonde stunned him yet again by slamming his raised hand into his desk.

"You think you're going to make me give up?" Naruto snarled. "Like hell, bastard! I'm gonna be Hokage even if I stay genin forever!"

Inuki beamed. Naruto was right. "And an enemy's not gonna care if you're a genin, a jounin, or an Academy student. Rank's gonna mean shit to him."

"So bring on the damn question already!" Kiba seconded.

The remaining genin received a major confidence boost. If a bunch of Leaf rookies had the guts to take on that kind of risk, so did they. The room erupted with cheers of 'You got that right!' and 'Hell yeah!'

No one but the chuunins in the room and Neji noticed, but Ibiki suddenly grinned, as if he found the genin amusing. If Neji had been anyone but Neji, he probably would have used some super-cool taijutsu and genjutsu to force the reason for amusement out of Ibiki.

But he wasn't, so he didn't.

Mildly irritated by the time the examiner was taking to announce the tenth question, Inuki flicked an ear under his headband. Or tried to. Anyway, Ibiki was getting quite annoying and was soon to be dealt with. _Some of us have places to be, jerk._

Ibiki chuckled as he mentally counted how many students were still in the exam. Sixty kids, twenty teams. Boy, was Anko ever going to be pissed. She'd spent so long trying to make the First Exam as hellish as possible.

"Ah, the Tenth Question…well, congratulations, all sixty of you. You've just passed the First Exam!"

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"Just what the hell was that supposed to be?" Inuki demanded of Sanyu crossly.

Both boys, and their teams, were outside the examination building. Specifically, right next to a book store. Thankfully, it wasn't the notorious Pink Book Store, or one would have thought something very wrong was going on. It was, in fact, the Yukitaro Book Store, where Nariko liked to buy adventure novels. Said girl was inside, purchasing a particular favorite of hers, about a female dragon in love, a hotheaded exiled prince, and a calculating young lord.

"Weren't you listening to Ibiki? Or to that freaky lady who busted the window?" Sanyu shot back. Irritants, that's what the world was made of.

"I don't listen to sadists and freaky people."

Sanyu sighed, knowing that his cousin rarely let topics pass unresolved. "That was the first of the three-part Chuunin Exam. Anko-san, the freaky lady, was the examiner for the practical."

Inuki gave Sanyu an apprehensive look. "Y'know, I'm not looking forward to the practical so much anymore."

Sanyu felt the figurative sweatdrop form on the back of his head. "Neither am I."

"At least it can't get any worse." Haruko muttered, looking up from some Sci-Fi book he'd bought. With Sanyu and Inuki looking at him expectantly (and Keitaro only half-listening), he continued, "I mean, it's not as if Orochimaru will show…up…dammit, I think I jinxed myself."

And the other boys nodded, agreeing completely.

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On their way back to the meeting place for chuunins and the potential chuunins, Haruko was noticed staring at Keitaro very intently. Eventually, the black-haired boy grunted and grabbed the front of Haruko's vest.

If there was one thing besides his brother that Keitaro hated, it was being stared at. Damn those red eyes!

"Just why are you staring at me?" he growled. Haruko grinned sheepishly as the other demon genins noticed the situation.

Nariko spoke up first. "Keitaro, let go of him before I kill you."

"Not until he tells me why the hell he was staring at me for five minutes!"

Haruko made a timid sort of noise, as if he suddenly wasn't enjoying the attention.

"W-Well…it's just that…um…" Haruko stammered.

"Spit it out, fox." Keitaro snapped. "Before I get impatient."

Haruko didn't look like he was really afraid in the way that he feared for his life, but rather his relationship with Keitaro, as unsteady as it already was.

"I-I read up a bit on the sannin, and you look a lot like Orochimaru!" With that, Haruko yanked himself out of Keitaro's loosened grip and backed away cautiously.

There was a long silence, filled with an awkwardness that was thick enough to cut with a kunai.

"You know, Keitaro, he's right." Umeko said after a time. "Yellow eyes with slits for pupils, pale skin, and black hair. Only differences are that your hair is way shorter and you have those facial markings like Sesshoumaru-sensei, instead of Orochimaru's freakier ones."

There was an even longer silence, broken only by their footsteps as they trudged towards Anko's predetermined meeting place.

"…Haruko."

"What, Keitaro?"

"You just lost nine respect points. You've got forty left."

"That's not a lot, is it?"

"…No."

"Man, I hate you."

Watching the squabbling pair, Nariko finally had enough. She grabbed both boys by their pointy ears and knocked their heads together.

"Get over it! Men are such babies!" she snapped. Little did she know that the boys were already plotting revenge…too bad it would have to wait until after the exams.

As the irritated (and injured) three genins walked to the meeting point, splitting up along the way, Keitaro going one way, Nariko and Haruko going another.

There was a pause between those who remained.

"And they passed the genin test, how?" Inuki asked no one in particular.

"Like hell if I know." Sanyu muttered in return.

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In another part of Konoha, Souten was scanning the rooftops of the village. She knew that something, or someone, had been following her for about an hour. And whoever it was, they were stronger than the sannin. And yet, they were still a good deal weaker than her.

She was technically off-duty, so she wore a civilian outfit. Not that the average person's outfit was so much different from what she usually wore, but that was beside the point. Souten liked dark blue and several shades of red and so wore jeans with a deep red sweater. Kouryuu clung to her shoulder like a stuffed toy, and hardly moved aside from blinking.

Sending a withering glance in direction of her stalker, she continued down the street.

"Souten-sama…?" Kouryuu began anxiously. He'd probably never seen his mistress so worried before. Actually, Souten couldn't recall being so nervous since she was a child and didn't know any techniques.

"Someone's been following us. They're not close enough for me to tell exactly who they are, but he or she is stronger than any of the sannin, though weaker than myself or any of us." Souten explained. She knew that Kouryuu would know who she meant by 'us'. Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippou, Souten, Sesshoumaru, and Rin.

"Will the children be in danger if he strikes?" Kouryuu whispered.

Souten abruptly stopped walking. "Yes." Instantly, she leaped onto a nearby roof and looked around for her mystery pursuer. And, with her sharp red eyes, she found him. Right across the street from her.

Arashi-kun? Just what in hell's name would he be doing following her?

"Souten-sama, that isn't the Yondaime." Kouryuu said, as if he had read her mind. He was watching the man closely.

Souten narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing her chosen opponent.

He was basically a carbon copy of the Yondaime. Except for the fact that Arashi didn't have an ounce of youki in him. This person was all youki, no ordinary chakra. And then he locked eyes with her. And the Yondaime was coming up on forty while this man seemed to be younger than twenty.

Red with slits for pupils. He had deep whisker-mark lines on his face, three on each side. Actually, he seemed more like Naruto when possessed by all of that fox youki.

Then Souten realized where she'd seen those eyes before. They were her own, her children's…and Komaru's. In other words, the Kyuubi's.

"It's Komaru." Instantly, the man looked up as if he had heard her. Yes, those were Komaru's eyes and his facial markings…but this was impossible! Half-youkai like Komaru shouldn't have been able to change form like that. Especially not so drastically. Where had the three hundred-foot fox gone?

"Should we tell Shippou-sama?" Kouryuu asked softly.

"No. Leave him be." If Kouryuu was surprised by her answer, he hid it well. Souten continued, "Perhaps Komaru-kun has changed his ways from the last time we saw him."

Her cool tone told nothing of the pain that she had gone through last time she'd seen him.

**Flashback**

_Her dearest stepson was leaving. If only he had been more cautious!_

_A human had told him of a beautiful place to watch the stars, and Komaru was planning to bring his love, a kitsune named Tomoyo, there. Surely, they would be happy there, underneath the silver moon and with no one but themselves._

_But alas, it was not to be. No sooner had the pair of foxes become at ease than the ninjas had attacked. Komaru fended off the attacks easily due to his youki, but Tomoyo…She'd succumbed to her injuries as they had tried to escape._

_Komaru had come back to the palace a broken man. It was horrible watching her stepson tear himself apart from the inside. Sometimes, when his father was out handling border disputes with the many nekomata in Cloud, Komaru would simply leave and not come back for many weeks. His father worried, as did Souten, but there was hardly anything they could do. And Souten was pregnant, so she was much less able than usual._

_Then, October 10th the next year, Komaru and Shippou both left. Shippou was heading out to kill a group of lizard youkai that were making themselves nuisances along the Fire border, while Komaru did not reveal his destination._

_It was obvious where he'd gone within a few hours._

_Shippou had returned, looking as if he'd run his emotions through a crop thresher. Komaru had been nowhere to be found._

_Then Shippou had told her of Komaru's seemingly sudden hatred of Konoha. Komaru had tried to attack during the night, but Shippou had been in the area and stopped him, defending the Yondaime Hokage and his ninjas. Shippou had no idea of the reasoning behind the attack and had said something to that effect to Komaru, but he'd been forced to severely scold Komaru and banish him from Fire forever._

_Souten had protested Shippou's decision, but her mate was adamant that it was the only solution. She had almost stopped protesting when the perfect idea hit her. Why didn't they move to Konoha and simply defend the village more directly? Her mate had been stunned by the request, but she insisted. After a half-hearted debate, they agreed to a deal. If they moved to Konoha and Komaru didn't attack for one Zodiac cycle, they would allow Komaru to return._

_Besides, Komaru would have to be suicidal to try anything with them in the village._

_And Souten hadn't heard from Komaru since._

_But, in honor of the heartbroken young bijuu, Souten had named her three new children using one of the kanji from his name. Thus they were known as Haruko, Nariko, and Umeko._

**Flashback Over**

Until now, she thought darkly. What would Komaru do if he left her sight? Slaughter the villagers? Raze it to the ground? Maul the children?

"Komaru. You have had your warning." Souten hissed. No doubt the half-youkai could hear her over the townsfolk's chatter.

Komaru narrowed those eyes at her. "I am not here for these fools. There are far bigger fish to fry."

Souten's eyes widened slightly. Komaru had always considered humans to be rather insignificant, if sometimes useful. It was exactly that attitude that had gotten him in trouble with his father in the first place. "Who?" was all that was necessary.

"You may have heard of the bastard." Komaru's eyes closed with suppressed rage. "He goes by Orochimaru."

Souten didn't gasp at the snake sannin's name. Rather, she grunted an acknowledgement. That damn bastard made everyone's lives miserable. Then realization hit her like a load of bricks. "He was the one, wasn't he?"

Komaru nodded. He leaped over from his perch to hers, never removing his eyes from her face. "Orochimaru tricked me. He wanted my power, since I was a bijuu." Komaru gave a sort of pained grin. "You know that only bijuu can be sealed."

Souten evaluated her stepson carefully, and replayed what he'd said in her mind. "You used 'bijuu' in past tense." Komaru nodded. She continued, "You found the Shikon no Tama and wished to be a youkai, didn't you?"

"How did you know?"

"Half-youkai, no matter what the other half is, can't change shape. You would still be towering over our heads if you were a bijuu."

Komaru was silent for a long time. Finally, he asked the most pressing question on his mind: "Are you going to tell Father about this?"

Souten considered it. Shippou's exiling of his son ended about three months ago. Her mate was undoubtedly still irritated about the whole business, but he wasn't as infamous for his temper as Inuyasha was. If he heard about Orochimaru's involvement, Komaru may just be forgiven. Of course, that would also start a clan-wide manhunt for the sannin, but that was neither here nor there.

"Souten-sama said earlier that we wouldn't, but there may be a benefit to telling Shippou-sama, Komaru-kun." Kouryuu put in. Souten had almost forgotten about the minimized dragon youkai.

"When you come up with it, tell me." Komaru said, turning away from them both. "But for now, I'm going to make sure that Orochimaru's main scheme doesn't succeed." And he was gone in a swirl of leaves.

Souten and Kouryuu were left in silence for a moment or two.

And then Souten felt a flash of irritation.

"That brat." Souten snarled in a frustrated manner. "He didn't even tell us what Orochimaru's plan _was_!"

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A/N: Stay tuned for the next chapter, which should come out sometime in October.

Thanks goes out to **Crystal Inferno** and **animerincheetah** for reviewing. It was the oddest thing to see these two come back, especially since I sort of expected them to be gone or something.

Other notes:

1) I am sorry to say that the Sound trio barely made a cameo in this chapter, but it sort of worked out that way.

2) It would be appreciated if animerincheetah and Crystal Inferno would tell me if they found any errors. I don't have anyone lined up for beta duty, so I may have missed some.

3) "You just lost nine respect points." That's a bit from FFX-2. Paine said it to Rikku. Rikku had forty-seven remaining.

4) I switched this chapter with another, since I didn't like how the Author's Notes weren't up-to-date.

Special note (only for my cousin, who may or may not read this): If Michelle is reading this, it would be appreciated if she'd call me just to say hi, since you're too shy for your own good. Be assertive.


	8. Orochimaru's Ambition Part 1

Chapter Eight: Orochimaru's Ambition Part 1

A/N: Everybody's gotta have a background. Like how Naruto annoyed Sakura for several years, how Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji have known each other for years, etc. Therefore, it seems perfectly logical that Teams Six and Nine would have known the members of the other teams for at least as long as they've been in the Academy. Nariko's known Sasuke for longer, though.

Read on to discover the reason why everyone from the demon families seems to hate Sasuke.

As for the identity of the mystery person, **reina** got it right. Komaru's been waiting to get back into his dad's good books for a while now…

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_I think I knew you then. Way back, before your brother killed everyone you loved and you became obsessed with revenge._

_You loved to hear tales of ninjas and their great battles from before you were born, wanting to be better than the heroes from then. You liked one more than the rest. I don't think I would have let you live it down if you'd found out that it was a history lecture._

_The day I started it, I knew I had you hooked._

_It was an ordinary day. We were still too young to enter the Academy. Six for me, you just turned seven. You practiced with your brother all the time, and were waiting for him to pick you up. I was telling stories to some of the younger kids._

_They liked the stories about demons and priestesses the best. I did too, but you liked one about the cursed hanyou._

_You perked up when a boy asked for it. You leaned forward a bit when I began my heavily edited version of the legend. I never told the younger kids anything about Inuyasha, the real-life star of the story. They didn't even know he defended them all the time._

_A few days later, as your brother got a bit more unstable, you came up to me and asked me for the real thing. You'd known the entire time that I'd left parts out. I'd smiled, and began to talk._

_I spoke of the betrayal, of the death, of the sealing. I told you of the battles in between, of the ultimate goal, and of the friends made along the way. You listened as I told the tales of the great youkai, the priestesses, and the history of the Shikon no Tama. You heard me when I spoke of the demon who hid his nature, Naraku._

_Then Itachi came to pick you up. And that night, you went through a living, breathing nightmare._

_I didn't see you for a week, and by then you wouldn't listen to me, nor could I visit you._

_Sanyu's mother, my father, and Inuki's mom all tried to stop your brother from escaping. In his desperation to flee, Itachi injured Auntie Rin badly. When Uncle Sesshoumaru returned from his travels and found that Rin was from then on unable to fight, he forbid anyone from our family to see anyone from the Uchiha Clan. They were all psychopaths, he said, destined for betrayal and ruin._

_I don't think he knew that you were the only one left._

_In any case, I went to the park again, and found you there. You didn't respond to me at all, and then Sanyu-kun came. Sanyu-kun grabbed me by the arm, saying that Uchihas were not to be trusted. When he dragged me away, kicking and biting him, I saw your eyes go a little emptier. Pity filled me like nothing else, and when I got home, I cried myself to sleep. Sanyu knew that something had gone wrong, but since he didn't know what was bothering me, in typical male fashion, he blamed you._

_From then on, I've never been able to tell you the ending to my story. Training, studies, my family, or your fangirls always got in the way. If I had, maybe you wouldn't have turned out this way._

_I'm sorry, Sasuke._

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"Nariko, stop daydreaming," Sanyu snapped. Instantly, Nariko blinked the dullness out of her eyes and snapped to attention.

The Second Exam had officially started two days ago, and Nariko had been off scouting around the immediate area, only she'd gotten a little sidetracked. What had made her lose concentration?

"Sorry, what did you say?" Nariko asked her gold-eyed companion. She did like him, but he could be so stiff sometimes… Nariko shook such digressing thoughts out of her head.

"I said, Haruko will be sending his Moku Bunshin out to scout for us, three in each team of them. Each bunshin will look like one of us. Our real selves are going to head for the tower while our bunshins steal the scrolls." Sanyu summarized tartly. "We'd better get moving, now."

"Understood, Sanyu-kun," Nariko responded automatically.

"Slave driver." Haruko, her older brother, replied at the same time.

Sanyu responded by killing off one of the wood clones with a fire jutsu and telling Haruko to make another to replace it. It was purely coincidence that the destroyed bunshin had looked like Haruko. He surely wasn't that angry at Haruko, who tended to joke around almost as much as Umeko did.

At least, Nariko hoped not.

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Sasuke hated being made to wait. Despite his calm façade, Sasuke was nearly as impatient a person as Naruto. But at the moment, that was the least of his worries. The new opponent, a Grass-nin, was far stronger than he had imagined. And Naruto wasn't anywhere in sight.

Sasuke did remember that the ninja had summoned a huge snake, and Naruto had gone off to deal with it. And he wasn't back yet.

Sasuke let all of his stubbornness loose. Naruto was _not_ going to die in a snake's stomach. The Grass-nin _was_ going to be defeated. They _were_ going to make it out of this alive!

Sasuke's hand was still clamped over Sakura's mouth. If she said anything, it might just attract the nin again, and Sasuke did not want the bastard anywhere nearby. He was sure that he'd…_Agh!_ _Think happy thoughts, dammit! Pull a Naruto and be Mister Optimistic_!

Sakura would be scared. She'd never seen her precious 'Sasuke-kun' lose his cool. Ever. If he showed his panic, then she would be feeling it as well. She didn't have the pride to be confident in the first place; this was pushing her into the negatives.

There was another shift in the wind, and Sasuke faintly heard the sound of something exploding. He hoped that it was the snake.

Sasuke only hoped that the grass-nin didn't have good hearing. His heart was pounding so damned hard, it seemed as if the Tsuchikage in Iwagakure should be able to hear it.

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In some other part of the forest, Team Ten was _not_ happy. Being stuck in a forest with a load of enemy ninjas was not fun. Being hunted every second one spent in the damn place was worse. But what made this horrible, what made it a living hell, was that there was no Sasuke-kun _anywhere_.

If the reader has not noticed, this is Ino's brain speaking.

"Chouji, stop it with those chips!" Ino screeched at her overweight team member. "With the sound you make eating them, you'd think that everyone in the forest would be able to find us with their eyes closed!"

"But then they'd hit the trees." Shikamaru shot back lazily as Chouji ignored Ino.

Chouji nodded, following his best friend's lead. "Besides, I've gotta keep my strength up, you know."

"Ugh, fine!" Ino threw up her hands, irritated beyond belief. "But there aren't any teams weaker than us! What are we supposed to do now?"

There was a momentary silence between the three, filled only by Chouji's constant crunching noises as he chewed another mouthful of chips. As he swallowed, Shikamaru got a brilliant idea. It would get Ino off his back for a while, and they'd probably get the other scroll!

"Why don't we go find your precious 'Sasuke-kun's' team? They've got _Naruto_." Shikamaru suggested, rolling his eyes at the dead last's name.

"Yeah, why not?" Ino said excitedly. "I'll get to see Sasuke-kun!" And with that, she turned on her heel and tore off in a random direction.

As she disappeared into the trees, Shikamaru slowly got up and muttered dryly, "Typical fangirl." He jogged after her with Chouji bringing up the rear, bag of chips still in hand.

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Somewhere else, Hinata was feeling happier than she had in days. Thanks to the trap with the leeches early on in the exam, they had had their second scroll by the end of the first day. Now, they were scouting about for another team to rob, in a form of extra credit.

Obviously, it had been Kiba's idea.

In any case, they were looking for another batch of losers to steal from when they came across Team Nine.

Inuki was sharpening his spear on a nearby boulder, Keitaro was meditating or napping, and Umeko was throwing senbon at a tree. They didn't seem to be doing anything. Didn't they need the second scroll?

"You can come out now." Inuki said, without taking his eyes from his intended target. "Kiba's got a very easy scent to recognize."

Team Eight left their hiding places, sheepish.

"You probably don't need the second scroll, so why are you bothering us?" Keitaro said, not even bothering to open his eyes. Hinata saw, with her Byakugan eyes, how Keitaro's chakra spiked irregularly. He seemed to be trying to control it.

"I'm betting you want to stop other teams from finishing, right?" Umeko asked brightly, winging a senbon at Inuki, which he caught.

Kiba nodded dumbly.

"Have you seen Sanyu anywhere? Or Umeko's brother and sister?" Inuki asked Shino, knowing that the bug-user was more dependable than Kiba was. Hinata didn't use her Byakugan often, so she was overlooked.

"There was a disturbance approximately three kilometers west of this location. My kikai insects that were sent in that direction have yet to return." Shino replied. As usual, it took the other person a second or two to comprehend the technical mumbo-jumbo.

"Keitaro, I bet that Sanyu's right in the middle of that; Haruko and Nariko too." Inuki said to his still-stoic teammate. Hinata wondered if Keitaro ever did anything besides be cynical.

"Should I care?" Keitaro replied, without any emotion.

That was hardly the correct response. Inuki threw down his spear and advanced on Keitaro.

"_Dammit_!" Inuki snarled, lifting his teammate into the air by his collar. "Keitaro, he's not just your brother, he's your younger brother! You're supposed to look out for him! Why the hell can't you get that?"

Keitaro calmly reached up and pried himself loose of Inuki's grip. "You're too stupid to understand. And no, I will not explain." The black-haired boy turned his back on his cousin, glaring furiously at the trees without actually changing his expression.

"Can you both stop it? We need to make sure that they're okay!" Umeko snapped over the two boys. Hinata suddenly admired the redhead for her bravery. She certainly wouldn't get between Shino and Kiba when _they_ argued.

Both boys grumbled a bit, bit Umeko was insistent. They bid Team Eight good-bye, and left.

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Despite his demeanor, Inuki was hardly stupid. He wasn't as stubborn as his father, or as loud as his mother. Rather, it seemed as if he'd inherited whatever tact that his parents had not. In any case, he knew that something deeper than mere sibling rivalry was at work between Sanyu and Keitaro. At least with the other sibling-hate cases, there was some definite reason why they hated each other.

Inuyasha's hate of Sesshoumaru had been mostly smoothed out, with the exception of simple sibling rivalries. But it had started with Sesshoumaru bullying him, and eventually trying to kill him every time they met. Then stealing the Tetsusaiga. Sesshoumaru's came from extreme jealousy, due to his father's favoritism of his half-breed brother. Inuyasha had fallen for a human priestess, Kikyo, was sealed, and had not helped during the second cat youkai war. Inuki could almost see it – Inuyasha's hate come from his jealousy of Sesshoumaru's youkai status and rock-bottom confidence in his natural abilities. Sesshoumaru's side of it came from his pride, jealousy, and betrayal when Inuyasha had not allied with him during the war.

Sasuke's hatred of Itachi and Itachi's neutrality concerning Sasuke was obvious. Anyone who was alive back then could understand that. Well, with the exception of Sasuke's crazy fangirls, but there was an exception to everything.

But Inuki couldn't put his finger on Sanyu and Keitaro's relationship. They hated each other for no apparent reason, and Sanyu hated Sasuke as a bonus. Though Sanyu was easier to get along with than his older brother, they were both copies of the sibling hate from the years before. That made them third-generation.

Most of all, he couldn't understand why Keitaro hated his younger brother. The big brother was _supposed_ to look out for the younger one, and keep them out of trouble. He knew that most siblings didn't get along perfectly, but this was bordering on homicide, and would only get worse unless they reconciled. Inuki also knew that Sesshoumaru had a hand in this, but wasn't sure exactly how.

No matter the outcome, Inuki was going to be there when the survivor realized how stupid he'd been.

He was a supporter, and was content with always being that way. Heroes were the ones that got killed.

"Inuki, we've got a problem." Umeko hissed in his ears, located on the top of his head.

Sighing irritably, he shifted the position of his hitai-ate so his ears weren't pinned under it anymore. If Umeko said 'problem', it usually translated to 'enemy ninja'. He needed to hear everything to find out an enemy's position.

"Gogyou Fuuin (Five Elements Seal)!" shouted a strange, almost-feminine voice. At the name of the seal, Inuki froze.

Then he cursed in three different languages. "That bastard's sealing Naruto's chakra! He won't be able to do anything for _hours_!"

"How do you know that it's Naruto?" Umeko asked, her voice sounding shrill.

"What other kid do we know with a bond to the Kyuubi? If the seal performs correctly, Naruto will be completely cut off from the Kyuubi's youki, and unable to use normal techniques for a long time!"

"Okay then." As soon as Keitaro said that, the other two looked at him. He elaborated, "Then let's kill the sealer."

Inuki didn't need Keitaro to say when. He picked up his spear and tried to locate the direction of the sealer, and locked on. He lifted his prized weapon, and swung the point in the direction of the sealer's voice.

"Youkai Soujutsu: Kaze no Kizu (Demon Spear Technique: Wound of the Wind)!" he cried. From the point where his spear had sliced through the air, a golden energy wave sprung into existence. As it tore through the trees, Team Nine followed its path of destruction. The wave widened, gaining mass the more it demolished the forest.

Eventually, dodging falling trees and leftovers from combat techniques, Team Nine spotted the members of Team Seven.

Sasuke looked as if he'd gone through kunai-dodging practice and failed. Sakura was dirty and a little scratched up, but appeared fine. Naruto…well, he didn't seem to have gotten sealed, but Inuki wasn't exactly an expert on that. For one, he seemed conscious, so Inuki decided that it was a good sign.

"About time you got here." Sasuke grunted, scowling.

"Be happy that I'm not my brother." Keitaro snapped back. "He'd have taken your throat out if you used that tone."

"Did you guys see that attack?" Naruto asked excitedly. "It was all _BOOM_ and Orochimaru was all _AAH_! It made him leave real fast. I wonder who's move it was?"

Inuki raised his hand. "It's adapted from one of my dad's."

"Sasuke-kun, I don't think he really left," Sakura muttered. "You can still feel his chakra."

Umeko nodded. "He just wouldn't be Orochimaru if he died easily."

There was a rustle from the remaining trees. Instantly, all six of the genin's guards went up. The rustle grew louder, and eventually someone stepped out.

That someone was covered in dirt and blood, and looked relaxed despite everything, such as the other group's hostility. They didn't recognize the someone.

That someone took one look at the genin's weapons, and blinked. "Umeko, put the kunai down before you hurt someone."

"Nariko? What happened to you?" Umeko asked, running up to inspect her sister for wounds.

"Hidden Rain ninja, if you must know. They got Haruko stuck full of senbon like a porcupine before we killed them and took their scroll." Nariko shrugged as her teammates made themselves known, Sanyu pulling a senbon out of Haruko's shoulder as the redhead grimaced. "Just so you know, Sanyu was feeling a little off today, and when the Rain started throwing needles at Haruko, he snapped. That's why we're all covered in blood – even though most of it's not our own."

The other teams flinched.

"Anyway, how'd you all get in this condition? It's not as if giant centipedes or other genin are this hard," Nariko asked Team Seven in general, not really caring who answered.

"It was Orochimaru!" shouted Sakura, looking very tired. Inuki winced at her volume.

Nariko looked at the boys of Team Seven for more details.

Sasuke volunteered; apparently, Naruto had been off fighting a snake summon and hadn't seen a thing. "Orochimaru, disguised as a Grass ninja, tried to kill us. He was about to use some kind of weird jutsu on Naruto, but apparently, was scared off by Inuki's attack, whatever it was."

"It's called Youkai Soujutsu: Kaze no Kizu." Inuki put in. He was ignored.

Nariko made a noise that sounded like a short, toneless hum. "And, since I'm sure Inuki didn't kill him, that means we're going to have to fight him."

"Why, _yes_." All nine genin stiffened instinctively at the faintly hissing voice. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, unnerving everyone in the clearing.

Melting out of a tree thirty feet away, a tall, lanky ninja emerged. He was dark-haired with most of his skin mildly dark. But that wasn't it. He dressed like a Sound shinobi, and a part of the skin of his face was missing. Underneath the missing patch was skin the color of chalk, with purple-outlined golden eyes.

"Sasuke-_kun_…" Orochimaru drawled. Inuki felt a shiver go up his spine, and definitely not a pleasant one.

Inuki shook his head violently, ridding his mind of the creeping fear. He hefted his spear despite his subconscious's warning not to, and Sanyu drew his katana right afterwards, followed by Keitaro with his kusarigama.

Nariko positioned her hands close together in preparation for seals, while Umeko reached into her oversized sleeves for her fox-magic weapons.

Following their lead, Sasuke activated the Sharingan, shifting into a taijutsu stance. Naruto formed the cross-shaped handseal for Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, ready to fill the forest from floor to treetops with clones. Sakura pulled out a kunai, and went into a sort of feminine version of a taijutsu stance.

Orochimaru chuckled with dark amusement, and slid into an offensive stance of his own.

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In a section not to far away from the sannin, Komaru was tearing through the forest like a bat out of Hell, looking for the snake.

Komaru was rather like his father in terms of personality. He could be immature and petty sometimes, but knew how to hold a grudge for a very long time, and well. When he found the snake, he was going to gut him, and leave his intestines out for the carrion crows.

As the youko neared the tower, he knew he'd missed something. Orochimaru's scent was nowhere near here, and he could only sense the Shukaku's youki. Hardly worth investigating.

Komaru spun around and started running to where he had felt a flash of his own youki a while ago. That would mean that that Naruto brat, Kazama Arashi's son, was in serious trouble.

As he felt a second blast of youki rip down the trees of the forest, he identified it as a mixture of Kagome and Inuyasha's. Their child, then.

And then he felt the one he was looking for. It seemed that the previous blast of youki had forced the snake to use his chakra to escape. But he hadn't moved far, and Komaru now had a lock on his position.

Grinning, the blonde made a few handseals. It was his personal favorite of the human jutsus, a teleportation one. As long as he had a kunai or a similar item near his destination, it would work. What luck that he'd lost a few ryou around there.

Komaru started the process of converting his huge resource of chakra into a manageably small does for the technique. He made a few more seals, and then…

"Hiraishin no Jutsu!" In a flash of yellow light, the fox youkai was gone.

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Outside the Forest of Death, Anko was perfectly happy eating her dango. A sadist by nature, she had a laptop recording what was going on in the area near the tower.

Before the test, she'd installed cameras all over the forest, and was now watching a team of Rain ninjas being devoured by sand and crushed. Anko grinned.

Her buoyant mood was abruptly disrupted by one of the ANBU assigned to survey the surroundings of the forest. That was a precaution to keep the competitors inside.

Souten, Anko though her name was. Souten was a powerful oinin who worked as an ANBU when she wasn't assigned to any particular missing-nin. She still managed to make time for her family, though Anko didn't know how.

"Anko-san, Uzuki-san told me to tell you about several bodies found just outside the perimeter," Souten said formally. She had no reason to call Anko 'sama' like some other ANBU, since she and Anko were the same rank. "There was something strange about them, she said."

"Other than being dead?" Anko asked.

Souten nodded, and both kunoichi poofed to the specified location.

Once the inconvenient but necessary ninja smoke disappeared, Anko could see what Souten had been talking about.

All three Grass-nin had had their faces literally melted off.

"What are you willing to bet that this is some super-strong ninja we're dealing with here?" one of the ANBU asked Souten. Anko was examining the bodies, but she could still hear them.

Souten's reply made Anko's head snap up, and the other ANBU's jaw drop beneath his mask. "I don't bet anything. I _guarantee_ that this was Orochimaru's doing."

"How would you know that? You weren't in the village when he left!" the ANBU snapped.

"_Au contraire_," Souten retorted. "In any case, I didn't need to be. I used to live along the border of Fire and Grass, and that bastard melted the faces off of the Grass jounin stationed along the border. And then he wore the jounin's face like a rubber mask, complete with a new voice."

Instantly, Anko thought of a certain Grass-nin from before the start of the second exam…

"Souten, radio the jounins and chuunins, on or off-duty. We've got a missing-nin loose in the Forest of Death." Anko ordered sharply.

Souten's red eyes were glaring at her through the slits of her oinin mask. "You mean to tell me that you let that snake bastard in there, with a bunch of genin? If that is the case, it will not be necessary to call every jounin or chuunin. I will only need to call Inuyasha and Shippou. They have been waiting to tear into your sensei for longer than you have, Anko."

"Explain."

"All right, perhaps not _longer_, but for at least twelve years, if you count my stepson," Souten relented.

"So, do we inform the Hokage, or go after Orochimaru?" Anko asked.

Souten seemed to pause, then muttered. "I think that we won't be the ones needing reinforcements. Komaru must have gone ahead."

"Who's Komaru?" Anko asked, suddenly curious. She knew that Souten had all three of her children in the exam, but hadn't heard of Komaru. A new lover, perhaps?

Souten's red eyes narrowed until they matched the mask's eye-holes. "Don't give me that look. Komaru has had a grudge against Orochimaru for years. Old Oro is responsible for the death of his fiancé, and for his twelve-year expulsion from the family.

"In any case, I suppose Yondaime-sama must be warned of the imminent danger. I just need to make a call first." Souten pulled a smallish red lizard out of her kunai pouch, which was always empty. She said she preferred shuriken and her lance-spear anyway. She settled it in her hands and raised it to her face. "Kouryuu, inform Shippou and Inuyasha of the new developments."

The little lizard (which Anko suddenly noticed had wings) snorted a ball of flame into the air. "Is that all?" it asked in a faintly boyish voice.

Souten shook her head. "When you inform them, take them here and get Inuyasha to pick up on Orochimaru's scent. Then we'll track them to their hidey-hole in the Forest of Death."

"You don't ask for much, do you?" the dragon, Kouryuu, commented dryly. Apparently, he was sleepy and fairly irritated by his nap being cut short.

"Shut up and get going before I lose my patience." With that, Souten tossed the little dragon into the air where he screeched indignantly. The tiny beast's wings suddenly tripled in size and he flew off in a huff.

"Wasn't that a bit mean?" one of the ANBU asked Souten.

"He should be used to it," the woman said dismissively. She turned back to Anko. "Let's get going. We may not have that much time to spare."

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In Konoha, Inuyasha had somehow managed, yet again, to drag Shippou to Ichiraku's. And make him pay the bill, which would have made the Hokage go broke.

Shippou blamed it on his own secret fondness for the noodles.

"Hey, Shippou, look at that." At his foster-father's urging, the redhead did so. What he saw astounded him.

It was Kouryuu circling overhead, using a special transformation that Souten had come up with for especially dangerous missions. Basically, it was Kouryuu's smallest form with his largest wingspan, with realistic-looking skull markings along the undersides of his wings. He spouted flame and made desperate screeching noises to gain the attention of anyone who had any sense to look up.

"Kouryuu! Get down here!" Shippou heard someone shout. To his surprise, it was Rin. She ran up, her black hair immediately in disorder when Kouryuu landed on her head.

"Shippou-sama, Inuyasha-sama, Rin-sama!" Kouryuu cried, shrinking his wings to their normal size as the non-shinobi of the village panicked. The sight must have been unfamiliar to them. Not so to the three youkai-blooded ones.

"What is it, Kouryuu? Why aren't you with Souten?" Shippou demanded. Inuyasha quickly stood up and left the money (Shippou's money) on the counter.

"Souten-sama told me to find you and bring you to the Circle of Stone Buddhas. Orochimaru's been spotted heading into the Forest of Death," Kouryuu said sharply.

Shippou felt his insides freeze up. If that snake bastard got into the training ground – the training ground for potential genin, no less – who knew what damage he could cause? His children were there, blast it.

"Also, Komaru-kun has reappeared, Shippou-sama." Kouryuu said. At Shippou's stunned look, then one of outrage, Kouryuu added quickly, "Before Souten was called to the scene, Komaru-kun told us of how Orochimaru caused him the loss of Tomoyo-chan. He tried to chase the snake, and he went into the village…" Kouryuu trailed off worry marring his small dragon face.

Shippou felt his perceptions shatter. So Komaru had had a valid reason for attacking Konoha. He had been trying to find and kill Orochimaru. But with his size, he would have unintentionally posed a threat to the entire village. Not for the first time, Shippou wondered if he'd done the right thing, before he squashed the idea ruthlessly.

If Komaru had been allowed to continue, Shippou's now-good friend Arashi would be dead, along with several hundred other shinobi and civilians. And now, Shippou had another powerful – if emotionally unstable and tenuous – ally in the fight against Orochimaru.

"If he allies with us against Orochimaru, he can come back." Shippou said finally.

Rin nodded brightly. "I'll warn the Leaf Genin's senseis, if that's all right. I may join you later at the tower."

Shippou grinned. "Thanks, Rin. I can see how you managed to keep Sanyu and Keitaro from killing each other for all these years."

"There is a technique to it, I'll admit. Now, Kouryuu, show Inuyasha and Shippou where to go." Rin lifted the dragon from her head, tossing him into the air as Souten had many times before.

Kouryuu's wings extended again, and beat furiously to keep him in place. Then he spun about in midair and zoomed off. Inuyasha and Shippou were right on his tail, bounding from rooftop to rooftop and out of sight as the reserve ANBU forces showed up.

Rin answered their questions diligently, but neglected to mention Kouryuu. It would be better if ANBU didn't get involved in this kind of thing, she decided. The average ANBU couldn't even compare to her when she used to fight.

As soon as the ANBU left, irritation evident through their porcelain masks, Rin disappeared from sight in a whirl of leaves. Just because she didn't actively battle anymore didn't mean that she didn't have a few tricks up her sleeve.

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**reina** gets a cookie for her smarts. I'm getting interested in _Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance_ now, so I'm not sure if I'll update this fast next time. Ike and Soren rule.

Notes:

1) Many thanks to all of my reviewers.

2) This website's editing feature is really starting to get on my nerves. And the dividers don't work.

3) For the next installment (Muse: Why the _feck_ can't she say 'chapter?), expect a serious delay since next month's my birthday and I have a seriously action-y chapter (Muse: Yes!) planned.

And my muse is Merasaki, a character I haven't used in ages. The reason? She's a Mary-Sue. She was my first-ever character, a lousy one, and that would be why she's been written out of all of my stories. My later ones, like the youkai kids, are much better-thought-out.

4) It is possible for Inuki to swear in several languages. The first words my friends and I learn in another language are the cusswords, for some reason.

Lang Noi logging out.

Lang


	9. Orochimaru's Ambition Part 2

Chapter Nine: Orochimaru's Ambition Part 2

A/N: If this doesn't kill me, only Death itself will…

If you're wondering which team of Rain-nin was killed last chapter, it was the one where they used lots of haze bunshin, and that one guy (Oboro, I think) was always babbling about luck and a lack thereof.

I appreciate **VenomLord**'s insight. Even if I don't like being proven wrong on any front, I guess it _is_ more Inuyasha than Naruto-based.

* * *

Haruno Sakura was an average girl. She was only as strong as the weakest of her classmates, but was smarter than the Mr. Number One Rookie, Sasuke. She was infinitely more knowledgeable than Naruto, Haruko, and Inuki, prettier than Nariko with her old-woman hairstyle or Umeko with those stupid pigtails, and simply more popular than Sanyu or Keitaro.

But despite all of that, she seemed to be the only one scared of Orochimaru. She could blame it on their stupidity, their foolish need to prove themselves, or their need to feel useful. Deep inside, however, she knew that she was the only coward.

Nariko could outmatch her in any fighting or stamina-based competition and Umeko was more unpredictable than anyone besides Naruto. Haruko had more strength to use more powerful jutsus than she ever would. Inuki may have had the bluntness of a dull kunai, but he undoubtedly had a cooler head on his shoulders than the rest. Naruto had progress that followed no pattern, letting no one know what he'd learn and master next. Sasuke was more driven to succeed, and had talent to match. Sanyu was tactless and arrogant, with an obvious dislike for the Uchiha heir, but he could back up what he said with a host of mysterious powers. Keitaro may not have had the mind for facts that she did, but he was better at strategic analysis of the opponent's faults.

If Sakura had a nickel for every situation she didn't want to be in, she'd be a millionaire. Of course, the cause of her problems was facing down nine genin and letting his three-foot tongue twist in the air in front of him like a snake.

Growling, the pink-haired girl watched, stunned, as the tongue shot at Sasuke like an evil arrow, only it never actually flew. She saw Sasuke activate his Sharingan, and sidestep the assault.

Not far enough. Orochimaru's tongue changed direction as soon as it missed, grasping at Sasuke as the boy dodged, again.

This time, Orochimaru withdrew the strange appendage, and he almost flew at Sasuke. Orochimaru moved so quickly, how was Sasuke supposed to dodge that?

It was just luck that Haruko shoved the Uchiha heir out of the way and took the hit. As the snake sannin slammed his fist into Haruko, Sakura saw his hands form seals and, with a blast of purple chakra, Orochimaru rendered the redhead unconscious.

Haruko's red eyes rolled up in his head until all she could see was white and his whole body went limp. He crumpled as if his spine had been taken out. With a sadistic leer, Orochimaru shoved him off the branch they had been on.

Umeko and Nariko screamed as he fell from the thick tree limb, until Sanyu caught him in mid-fall and set him close to Sakura.

"Look after him." Sanyu said in a voice that seemed too soft and concerned for him. "And stay out of this fight."

"Hey, I can fight, you know!" Sakura said crossly, feeling Inner Sakura yell, **I am _so_ useful, asshole!**

"That's not what we need." Keitaro said from the limb above them, as he dodged a shuriken – misaimed by Naruto. "Nariko and Umeko are good enough fighters, but they can't afford be distracted from fighting, and you're the only one that doesn't have known offensive jutsus."

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sakura demanded, feeling Inner Sakura rise again.

"That means that if they were to be taken out, you wouldn't be enough to take their places." Inuki said in a strained voice as he saw Umeko's attack reflected into Naruto's direction, who dodged.

The killer top, which was what it looked like, proceeded to tear its way through a tree, then another. All the while Umeko was cursing at the top of her lungs, in a fashion that would have made a few people quite impressed.

"_Kitsune-bi_!" Nariko and Umeko shouted as one, gathering glittering green flames in their palms.

Sakura watched in fascination as the fiery orbs grew to the size of wagon wheels. They were strangely beautiful, like a ghost. One could never look away from such things before they disappeared on their own.

Throwing like a physically handicapped kickball player, Umeko shot her fireball in Orochimaru's direction. It moved slowly, giving the sannin time to laugh at it as it drew closer, inch by inch.

At last it hovered two centimeters from Orochimaru's nose. He laughed again. Why wouldn't he? It didn't do anything! _Oh my God, we're gonna die_! Sakura thought in a panic.

She snapped with the fingers of both hands.

The fireball, which had been floating there innocently, promptly exploded to cover an acre of forest. The nine genin were safe – Nariko's fireball had become a flaming shield to ward off the effects of Umeko's.

There was a dull groan, and Nariko gave a stunned gasp. As the two layers of flame cleared, Sakura saw why.

Orochimaru had Umeko by her collar, her apparently unconscious as her brother was. Her eyes were fluttering white as his had, and she was as limp as – no, limper than –a rag doll.

"The new crop of genin is certainly _interesting_." Orochimaru noted with smug satisfaction. "But this one is unsuitable." Without further ado, he swung the KO'd girl around and flung her down towards the forest floor.

"Umeko!" Nariko cried, reaching out hopelessly to her comatose sister. There seemed to be nothing they could do.

Then, out of nowhere, Naruto appeared. He ran up the side of the tree Umeko was falling closest to, and grabbed her out of the air.

Orochimaru almost seemed to pout as Naruto deposited Umeko near her brother. Sakura thought viciously at him, _Do you _enjoy_ killing_?

Inuki gritted his sharp teeth, and seemed to debate disemboweling the sannin.

Suddenly, Sakura saw her allies in another light. While they were certainly powerful, they weren't used to working all together, much less against a ninja who had already taken out two of their number.

As Orochimaru started in on her, probably to stop her friends from giving their fallen friends a safe haven, Sakura saw Keitaro and Inuki converge on the sannin in a blaze of chakra.

Inuki struck first. He jammed his spear point into Orochimaru's calf, then dragged the tip upwards to create a crimson stripe the length of the sannin's leg. Orochimaru seemed surprised, and examined his wounded leg as Inuki bashed him in the head with his spear, and came around for a third pass by swinging it into Orochimaru's face, breaking his nose, at the least.

Finally, Inuki did the same technique as he had first used to drive off Orochimaru – Youkai Soujutsu: Kaze no Kizu. The wave of bright gold energy was dodged gracefully, but the trees falling after it were not.

As the blood began to pour out, Sanyu popped in and stretched out the fingers of his left hand to their full length, revealing pointed nails. He gave the sannin a smack with them, carving five scarlet-gushing gashes into Orochimaru's chest.

That was to everyone's surprise – he hadn't even drawn his katana!

At last, it seemed as if Orochimaru had tired of the game. His ghastly tongue shot out his mouth, a bullet, coiling several times around Inuki's neck. The white-haired boy gasped, dropping his spear in surprise. At the same time, he swung at Sanyu, though that didn't come to anything.

His hands flew to his neck, trying in vain to pry the monster's hideous tongue off him, to get air. It was useless, and the tongue tightened with every exhalation, a python's grip.

It was horribly slow for Sakura, as if she was watching every oxygen molecule die in the boy's chest. But by the look of stunned surprise and supreme anguish on Inuki's face, she knew it must be much longer for him.

An eternity seemed to pass before Keitaro twirled the weighted end of his kusarigama and latched it firmly around the middle of Orochimaru's pink, slimy monstrosity, and tugged on it.

The part after the chain's binding squeeze turned blue, as Inuki was.

Inuki's struggles were weakening, and Keitaro knew it. He, instead of doing a gentle, persuading tug, he gripped the chain and wrenched it with all his strength.

Orochimaru's expression was enough to confirm that the pull was almost enough to take that slimy pink worm out of his mouth.

Sanyu, as if to enforce the point, bounced off a tree, drew his katana and swung at the section just beyond where Keitaro's chain cut off all blood circulation. Sasuke and Naruto pulled out kunais and threw them at the immobilized sannin. Even Sakura pulled out a shuriken and tossed it at the snake bastard.

Left with only two options – drop Inuki or lose his tongue – Orochimaru's monstrous appendage curled back into his mouth, which shut with a snap.

Suddenly unsupported, the dazed Inuki plummeted towards the next branch, too stunned to try and adjust his fall.

Sasuke shot out of his position and tackled Inuki in midair, knocking the other boy to safety. Safety meant 'right next to Sakura', in battle language. She didn't really know why they were doing that. What could she do to help?

Almost as soon as Sasuke dropped him, Inuki sat up again, rubbing his bruised neck. That would definitely hurt in the morning. Already it was turning a nasty purple color.

Inuki coughed, hard, but managed to grab the trailing edge of Sasuke's armguards. He hacked again before saying, "Get Sanyu over here." Then he had his coughing fit again, all the while eyes searching for his fallen spear.

Sasuke nodded sharply, going over to take the other black-haired genin's place in the battle lineup.

It didn't seem, however, as if Sanyu was going to listen. He snapped at Sasuke, but didn't make a move to strike him. Sakura abruptly remembered that Sanyu plus Sasuke equaled zero cooperation. Inuki groaned – he had noticed, too. Then the white-haired boy vanished, leaving Sasuke arguing with thin air for a moment.

Then, Orochimaru lashed out at Sakura again, flying at her with blinding speed. Her eyes widened in horror as the snake sannin materialized less than a hand's breadth away, one arm pulled back to deliver a punch to her gut.

At that exact moment, as Orochimaru was going to silence her, a fist smashing into the side of his face cut him off. The sannin was thrown away by the force of it, colliding with – and punching a hole through – a tree.

Sakura spun around to thank her savior, only to be greeted by Inuki, whose fist was still extended.

Sakura had never seen him look so…feral.

Inuki's eyes had gone from gold to green, while the whites of his eyes had gone red. All emotion short of anger had disappeared, and she noticed two jagged purple markings forming below his eyes.

"Dammit!" she heard Keitaro shout.

"Sakura-chan, get away from him!" Naruto yelled.

Inuki snarled like a wild dog at the sound of their voices. Sakura noted that his canine teeth were longer and sharper than an Inuzuka's could ever be.

However, Sakura didn't move. Haruko and Umeko were out cold, and she wasn't going to abandon them. No way in hell.

Then the ferocity faded, and the markings disappeared. His eyed darkened to coal black, and so did his hair. Then his eyes rolled up in his head just as the snake sannin poked his head out of the hole he's made.

Inuki toppled backwards as Keitaro snapped an oath too dark for Sakura to remember. She watched, stunned, as the black-haired boy leaped over to check on his cousin, and barked his status out to their comrades.

"Alive, unconscious, out of chakra. How the hell he manages to have timing like this, I'll never know." The black-haired boy's eerie gold eyes met Sakura's, with a silent request.

Or not.

"He won't wake up for at least a day or two. When he does, be warned that he could still carry animal instincts. Be careful."

Sakura finally found to opportunity to ask her pressing question as Keitaro's eyes snapped to meet Orochimaru's near-identical ones.

"Why me?" she wondered aloud, "Why put them around me?"

Keitaro _laughed_, never once removing his sight from Orochimaru. "You'll find out in a bit. Not from me, though."

Then the sannin and genins clashed again, leaving Sakura with a largely unanswered question.

* * *

"What the hell are you people _doing_?!" Inuyasha snarled as the ANBU seemed to take too long to prepare for the outset. Not that Shippou was in a position to complain – he was just as impatient and crabby – but Inuyasha always managed to make things complicated.

Like the time where he tried to rush Sango's recovery for revenge. How does one exact their revenge when they're still stuck in bed?

Shippou eyed his foster-brother with some irritation, but neglected to comment. It would be too easy, and would likely just redirect the hanyou's wrath unto him.

Anko, as far as the redhead could tell, was equally agitated. Anko was well-known for her sadistic impulses, as well as for her seemingly bottomless hatred for her ex-sensei, Orochimaru. It didn't take a genius to see where she'd gotten the former.

However, unlike a majority of the people involved in this crusade, she had a very personal score to settle. Shippou's was a little besides that, and Inuyasha was just extremely worried about the genin. Specifically, Inuki.

Shippou had four times the problems, though they might have amounted to about the same.

Firstly, his estranged son, other wise known as the Kyuubi no Youko, was running rampant in the Forest of Death. Secondly, Komaru didn't have any idea that he now was an older brother. He'd left before the triplets had been born, and probably wouldn't recognize them. Thirdly, Orochimaru was messing with Team Seven, and Shippou's children had most likely gone to back them up. They were contrary like that. Fourthly, there was a chance that _someone_ – most likely Orochimaru – was orchestrating an attack on Konoha within the next month, according to Hachi, who was far away in River Country.

Amazingly, Hachi was their fly-on-the-wall in the Akatsuki. His human disguise was flawless, but only if he tried to mimic Miroku. Anyone else, and the illusion would quickly fall.

Myouga had been considered, but hadn't changed much in all the centuries they'd known him. Still mainly useless, aside from messenger duty, Myouga rarely was found beyond the reach of his master, Inuyasha.

More astoundingly, Sesshoumaru had no claim to control over him, much like how Inuyasha could not (and wouldn't care to) order Jaken or his descendants about.

Inuyasha often mentioned how he'd gotten the short end of the stick in that bargain.

"Hey, Inuyasha," he started, tapping to other man on the shoulder. Inuyasha's white head snapped towards him, golden eyed flashing. He was clearly in no mood to be bothered, but Shippou had had an idea that wouldn't go away. "This might be a little off-topic, but you know that Orochimaru used to be part of the Akatsuki, right?"

"Yeah, and sucked at it." Inuyasha replied dryly, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Well, Hachi also says that they're planning on take over the world using the nine bijuu, starting and stopping wars without much effort, causing the people to depend on them for all shinobi resources and crap until the hidden villages die out." Shippou and Inuyasha rolled their eyes at that. A more than implied 'yeah, right' was in there.

"Thing is, they aren't really expecting several different factors. Foremost, they don't know about us. I'm the Jyuubi, though I'm certainly no half-demon. You could most likely kill any demon we'd run into, bijuu or not. And Sesshoumaru…let's just say that it's never been smart to piss him off. Ever."

Inuyasha grinned, showing off his _very_ long canines. "And only bijuu, the strongest half-breed giant monsters in the world, can be sealed. Komaru definitely isn't a bijuu anymore, so we can say that the Akatsuki will never complete that goal."

Souten chose that moment to walk over, saluting the two even though it wasn't necessary. "We're ready to hit the road. Got everything?"

Inuyasha patted himself down, fingering the hilt of his prized fang for a moment. "Let's see – Tetsusaiga, check; lousy temper, check; fire-rat haori, check. I'm all set."

"All I need is a lot of youki and my brain, so I'll be fine." Shippou informed his wife with a foxy grin. "Can't say the same for Stupid over here, though."

There was a pause; Shippou hadn't tried to spark his foster-brother's temper in a _very_ long time.

"Correction: lousi_er_ temper, check."

With that, the ANBU forces found themselves tailing the two hyperactive (and angry) jounin as they tore off through the trees.

For better or for worse, they would confront the snake sannin. Most likely, for worse. Far worse.

* * *

Screw what everyone else thought, Rin was still the most active member of Konoha society out of the family she had.

She had to be. She was the one who shopped while her sons were on D-ranked missions, who bantered semi-playfully with the townsfolk for more than an hour a day, and kept her three children from destroying their things.

Actually, she had come to think that Konoha was like a very large family. The shinobi were sort of like the big brothers and uncles, watching over the noncombatants. The kunoichi were the big sisters and aunts, keeping them safe like the shinobi did, but also making sure they didn't grow cold. For an orphaned woman, that would be quite the speech.

Sesshoumaru-sama wasn't Sesshoumaru-sama anymore, as Kagome liked to put it. That didn't mean the priestess wouldn't address him as was due – far from it – but she implied that the uptight demon lord wouldn't mind being called 'Sesshoumaru-kun' by Rin.

And he didn't. However, he did forbid her from calling him that in public. Well, some things never would change. If he wasn't overly prideful, he simply wouldn't be Sesshoumaru-sama.

Rin hurried along her path, dodging a straying child, her feet barely touching the ground as she ran. The villagers stared at the blur she had become, not quite able to grasp that the smiling, good-natured, open-to-the-world Rin could rival a shinobi's top speed.

While she couldn't move or react as quickly as Sesshoumaru-sama (old habits die hard) would have liked, she was far more powerful than the others would fully give her credit for.

Perhaps it was because she merely hid her triumphs in order to stay anonymous. Anonymity was a shinobi's best weapon, which the other five had not quite gotten into their heads.

Souten, even with her oinin mask, was pitifully easy to recognize by her burning red eyes and her long black braid. The two flaming wheels she used for flight were more than a dead giveaway. Her skin was a normal tone, but a single dismissive wave of her hand could scorch another person into a lightning-induced pile of ash. If her brother could do it, it came as no surprise that Souten could, too.

Shippou's red hair had been cut, and he'd taken to dulling it with shinobi-specialized shampoo, but any moron within twenty feet – or fifty for ninjas – would be able to see he wasn't normal, just from his facial structure. For lack of a better term, Shippou was almost…elfin. His chin was sharper, and his eyes were a little larger, and the ears gave _everything_ away.

Inuyasha couldn't be subtle or tactful if he tried. He wasn't in Konoha often, but when he was, he would occasionally forget to wear his bandanna/hitai-ate that would have hidden the oh-so-obvious dog ears he sported. When someone dared to ask, Inuyasha tended to whack said idiot through a building. Hence, everyone in Konoha now feared him, rightfully.

Kagome was easier. She was a Tokubetsu jounin, which meant most people wouldn't be stupid enough to mess with her in the first place. She knew very few attacks or jutsus outside of what she could perform with her bow, which she carried everywhere. If someone happened to meet her at night, and she wasn't wearing her hitai-ate like the bandanna it was _supposed_ to be, they'd know right away that she was a far cry from human.

Sesshoumaru…well, he didn't honestly care about impressions. If the person didn't acknowledge his rank and power, they tended to die. Plus, while he didn't spend that much time actually _in_ Konoha, his reputation from Iwagakure and Sunagakure should have been obvious enough, even leaving out the fact that he never – ever – wore anything resembling shinobi garb.

Rin skidded to a halt in front of the Hokage's office, greeting the two chuunins on guard with a smile and a wave. Izumo and Kotetsu returned the sentiment.

_Oh, I am going to need to apologize to the people I blew past. They were only doing their jobs_, Rin thought.

"What are you doing here?" Izumo asked, back to his polite, if unusually distant, speech. Izumo was the one without the bandage across his nose, Rin reminded herself.

"I wasn't sure if Yondaime-sama had gotten the message, so I'm here to relay it, if he hasn't." Rin responded, equally polite but still a little hurried.

"What message?" Kotetsu put in.

Rin's lips quirked into a sad half-smile; she really didn't like saying no to people who meant well. "I'm very sorry, Kotetsu-san, but Souten-san says that Hokage-sama needs to hear this first."

Izumo nodded, and quickly scooted into the Hokage's office. It seemed only a moment later of chatting with Kotetsu, and Izumo was giving her permission. He was also holding the door open for her.

Rin had a funny feeling that ninjas tended not to take 'civilians' seriously, but were making an exception in her case. _How nice of them_, she mused.

She stepped through, and kicked the door shut behind her. She heard Izumo curse, but she had decided that it was worth it. Best not to have chuunins hear something they shouldn't be privy to. Worst case scenario, they could be killed for it.

The Yondaime had never stuck her as a person who enjoyed paperwork. Sure enough, he still didn't.

To one side of his desk, a terrifyingly high stack of unsigned papers was teetering on the edge of the influence of what could be called balance and into something called gravity. Sitting neatly on his desk, a comparably small pile was just _there_, as if the signer had been in denial of the haphazard position of the _other_ pile.

Everything else was normal enough.

"Did you need to see me, Inutaisho-san?" Arashi asked in that respectful tone that Rin knew should be used only for visiting dignitaries, which she was _not_.

Rin shook her head, and suggested, "Call me Rin-san."

As she watched the Yondaime's blue eyes grow wide, she knew it hadn't been a good idea. Then she remembered that one of the Yondaime's students was named Rin as well.

Rin wasn't sure if it was a given, but it seemed as if all of the really prestigious teams (Team Yondaime and Team Sarutobi) tended to fall through in one way or another.

She inclined her head at Arashi, who seemed to have regained his composure, and continued with what she'd planned to say.

"Yondaime-sama, there's been a…incident. Orochimaru's been spotted heading into the Forest of Death, and I'm almost certain he's after Uchiha Sasuke." Rin waited for the name to register. When the Hokage's eyes cleared, she knew it had.

Rin continued, and she wasn't going to like the reaction he displayed, she knew it. "If you'll recall, Uchiha Sasuke is on the same team as Uzumaki Naruto. Orochimaru will most likely attempt a Gogyou Fuuin (Five Elements Seal), and while it wouldn't cause that many problems, Naruto doesn't have a normal seal. Something like that…it certainly wouldn't be good."

The silence was thunderous.

"_WHAT_?!" Arashi's shout was punctuated by his fist caving in a section of his deck. Not that she blamed him for that. It wasn't her desk.

He was on his feet, and his normally content blue eyes had gone cold. If he hadn't had some sort of appearance to maintain, she could easily imagine him vaulting out of the window to go to his son's rescue.

"Oh, and the Kyuubi's decided to come back and kill Orochimaru himself. He's in the Forest too, I think. He says that he'll stop bugging you once the Snake is dead." Rin added with false cheer.

That shut him up. Now the Yondaime was gaping like a fish, which she would have found amusing, but the situation was far too serious for something like that.

Rin put up two fingers. "At the moment, there are a grand total of…two traditional ninjas in Konoha who can take on Orochimaru and possibly win. One it you, the other is Sandaime-sama."

"I can't leave my post as Hokage," Arashi muttered, sounding very disappointed in himself, "and Sarutobi-sama's too old for things like this. What am I going to do…?"

"Hold it," Rin _almost_ snapped, speaking with some uncharacteristic forcefulness. How surprised her family would be, seeing her stand up to the _Hokage_ like that. "It's too early to give up. My sons, nephews, and friends' children are in there too, you know. Their parents, siblings – and my husband – aren't going to slack off."

The Yondaime's eyes went flat, and Rin sensed a debate at hand. "Orochimaru is a _Sannin_, Inutaisho-san. Few people have ever been able to compete with _one_ of them, one of which was Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang. For the most part, those people are dead."

Rin knew that. Rin had known that humans couldn't fight worth anything since she had been killed by wolf demons and revived by Sesshoumaru-sama. Since she was small, she'd also known that demons were so much more powerful than people, it was pathetic.

Rin huffed – something she had gotten from Kagome whenever she and Inuyasha clashed. "I said _traditional_ ninjas, Arashi-sama. Inuyasha-san and Shippou-san are heading into the Forest of Death right now, along with Souten-san, Anko-san and two full squads of ANBU. They aren't perfect, but all three of them are more than a match for any snake-obsessed pedophile. Don't worry."

Unexpectedly, Arashi looked as if he were going to laugh. It was unmistakable – the relaxation of the chakra pressure in the air, the softening of the eyes, even the stress marks on his too-young face seemed to fade slightly.

"What's so funny?" she demanded; this was hardly the time to laugh!

"Sorry," the Yondaime replied after regaining his composure, again, "but that's the first time I've ever heard someone call the _Legendary Sannin_ Orochimaru a snake-obsessed pedophile, though it's probably true."

Rin threw her hands up in exasperation. It wasn't like she had _that_ much to say. "One more thing. Do not, by any means, trust the Kazekage. By the time he comes (with Gaara in his genin arsenal, how could he not), he'll most likely be dead. The man who may greet you by then will most likely be an imposter, so don't assume you can trust. Far from it. If the ninjas who've already entered the Forest fail to kill Orochimaru, expect him."

Arashi looked like his head was very stuffed now. "The Kyuubi is helping us? Seems nearly impossible when you remember how it nearly wiped us off the map."

"I wouldn't call it helping, exactly. More like his goals just happen to coincide with ours." Rin admitted sheepishly.

"That's better."

The two smiled, but they knew the next days would not be easy. If they were lucky, the snake would break under the combined pressure from the defending genin, the attacking ANBU, and the Kyuubi, but they doubted it. Snakes were irritating like that.

* * *

(A/N: For those who wanted to see Komaru/Kyuubi, sorry, but he doesn't have another part until next chapter. So I posted an omake in his place: What did the jounins do while their teams were taking the Second Exam?)

"Kagome-san, who is he?" Kakashi asked the other jounin. Kagome blinked at him.

"Who?" she asked. She was pretty sure Kakashi knew everyone in the room – someone had gone and reserved special rooms for jounin-senseis of every village. Asuma and Kurenai were there too, while Gai was severely testing the patience of one Sesshoumaru.

"Oh, Sesshoumaru-sama?" she inquired softly, so Gai wouldn't be distracted and thus stop distracting Sesshoumaru.

"Yeah, him." Kakashi responded from behind the orange cover of _Icha Icha Paradise_. Kakashi was so good at looking disinterested; she'd have never known he was even paying any sort of attention if it weren't for the fact that he'd started this conversation.

"Um…well, I've known him for a long time. He's Inuyasha's older brother." Kakashi's one visible eye widened slightly. Just slightly. She continued, "The first meeting was very…unpleasant, since he almost killed Inuyasha and me. He's been very busy managing all the land he inherited from his father, but I'm glad he's finally stopped killing people just because they got in his way on the road or something."

Any pertinent info after that was drowned out by Gai's shout, since he had finally started to notice Kakashi was there, too.

"YOSH! MY ETERNAL RIVAL IS FINALLY PARTICIPATING IN THE YOUTHFUL ACTIVITY OF DATING!"

The silence was just astounding.

"Um…I'm married." Kagome put in.

Wrong thing to say.

"OHO! SO KAKASHI IS–!"

Whatever Gai had intended to say after that was cut off by him rather forcefully exiting the room. Kakashi and Kagome hadn't moved.

"You are certain he is sane, correct?" Sesshoumaru inquired in a vaguely interested tone. It was honestly very strange to see four jounin (the fifth having been knocked out) scared out of their minds while facing one other.

Kagome giggled rather inappropriately, and said, "We can only hope."

* * *

A/N: Wow, six pages of action and eight of junk (plot stuff).

I do not, by any means, expect joy at the release of this chapter. It's so late, it'll be a miracle if anyone even remembers it exists.

I am very happy today - Christmas Eve, man! I get presents tomorrow, I get presents tomorrow! Yay!

Gai may be out of character. I wouldn't know. Kurenai and Asuma, if you noticed, have had no lines at all in this story. Happens to a lot of characters in fanfiction, I'm sure. Gai's longest line is copyright to Foxie-sama, since I honestly couldn't think of anything.

There is no beta, so I take all credit for any mistakes in this chapter.

Next up is 'Kyuubi no Youko vs. Orochimaru'.


	10. Apologies

Dear Readers,

So, for any of you who are still following this…

I won't be writing this anymore, as you've probably already figured. This wasn't my first fanfic, but it was certainly the one I was most excited about posting back when I was thirteen years old.

I'm eighteen now. Looking back at this story taught me exactly how many layers of crap I'd have to dig through with this in order to find the gold. It's just not salvageable in its current form, and I apologize profusely.

But I've long since started a revamp that is done with a different cast and crew, a more well-thought-out setup, and a better understanding of both characters and plot.

So, if you were a fan of _Lesson of the Fox_ despite its flaws, give _The Promise_ a chance. The original will still be there for anyone's enjoyment, should they decided to read it, but I will no longer write it.

Thank you for your patience.

Lang


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